A Gauhati University student was arrested on the charge of posting on social media a "fake and fabricated" appeal by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to donate money for flood relief, police said Tuesday.
The student posted the appeal on Sunday, which was declared "fake information" by the Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR), a police spokesman said.
Dipjyoti Gogoi, a second-semester student of Mass Communication and Journalism, was arrested near his home at Thowra Majgaon in Sivasagar district on Monday night.
The crime branch has registered a case against him under several sections of the Information Technology Act.
The "fraudulent post" on Facebook was an attempt to mislead the common people and malign the image of the government, the spokesman said.
Assam is reeling under flood and 24.19 lakh people in 24 districts are affected, a government report said. A total of 87 people have died in flood-related incidents. Gogoi was brought to Guwahati on Tuesday morning and produced before a court here. He was remanded in judicial custody.
Meanwhile, news portal "Northeast Now" claimed that Gogoi also shared a news item, which the government declared as fake, which it carried on July 15, 2019, and it was based on a press release issued by DIPR and the state government's Twitter handle had also made an appeal for donation last year.
The portal's editor Anirban Roy said they have written to Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna to take immediate action and direct DIPR to issue a clarification that this was last year's news to "ensure that our organisation is in no way involved in fake news dissemination".
A copy of the letter sent to the chief secretary has been also marked to PTI.
Meanwhile, there is widespread speculation on the social media that Gogoi was arrested because of his involvement in the anti-CAA protests in December last year.
The student was also vocal in demanding the release of peasant leader Akhil Gogoi, who was arrested in December in connection with cases filed by the National Investigation Agency for his involvement in the anti-Citizenship Act stir in Assam, from jail.
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