Alappuzha: Kerala Police arrested an Ayyappa devotee on Monday, who had allegedly spread fake photos to provoke hatred against the police on religious grounds in Sabarimala.

Mannar police arrested Alappuzha’s Kulanjikarayma Chempakapally native Rajesh R Kurup.

The photoshopped picture showed police stamping an Ayyappa devotee, who had his Irumudi tied to his head while holding an Ayyappa idol in his hand. 

Rajesh Kurup himself has appeared in the photo-shoot. A case has been filed against him. The police seized his mobile phone. This will be handed over to the cyber cell for obtaining more evidence. The police have registered a case under attempt to create communal tension and Kerala Police Act.

35-year-old Rajesh R Kurup was arrested after S Sarath Babu, DYFI Chennithala area secretary lodged a complaint with Alappuzha district police chief S Surendran. He was later granted bail.

To counter this, the police too created memes on social media to tell netizens that this picture is fake.

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This fake image had gone viral on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Delhi MLA Kapil Mishra tweeted an image on November 2 in which a man can be seen holding an idol with the foot of a purported cop on his chest. 

He Tweeted this image with the text, “In the eyes of this devotee There is No Fear of brutality There is No fear of oppression This is the Power of Faith #Sabarimala #Ayyappa,” suggesting that the subject of the image was perhaps a victim of brutality. At the time of writing this article, Mishra’s Tweet was liked over 2,700 times and retweeted over 1,400 times.

The same image was earlier circulated by Squint Woke Neon (@squintneon) and Hindu Mahasabha activist Kamlesh Tiwari who Tweeted: “See the violent treatment of Kerala police on Lord Ayyappa devotees.” Both these posts drew a combined retweet count of nearly 1,300.