Arrest for fake page on Facebook

TT, Siliguri, May 7: A Siliguri youth was arrested today for allegedly opening a Facebook account in the name of a Chhatra Parishad leader and posting indecent comments and photos on the social networking site.

Sandip Roy, a resident of Hakimpara in town, was charged under Section 67A (punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Police said they were yet to find out the motive behind the 25-year-old opening the Facebook account in the name of Amit Talukdar, the Darjeeling district president of the Chhatra Parishad. Roy was remanded in police custody for five days by the additional chief judicial magistrate’s court here today.

The arrest was made on the basis of a complaint Talukdar had filed at Siliguri police station on February 11. “A tab, a cellphone and a dongle (used for wireless internet) have been seized from the accused,” said O.G. Pal, the deputy commissioner of the Siliguri metropolitan police.

The investigators said they had sought the help of cyber experts to track down the Internet protocol address of the computer from where the fake account had been created.

The student leader said the fake account had already been blocked.

If the charges against Roy, who is unemployed, are proved, he could be convicted to jail term up to three years and fine up to Rs 5 lakh.