PILIBHIT: Police booked two persons on Tuesday for allegedly posting an 'objectionable' caricature of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a WhatsApp group, applying serious sections of the IPC and the IT Act . One of the accused is a district vice-president of the Samajwadi Party and also a zila panchayat member.SHO of Sungarhi police station, Har Govind Singh, said, a group of 12 BJP workers, including party's district general secretary Ambrish Sharma, and Amitabh Tripathi, filed a written complaint about an 'objectionable' image of Modi shared by Akram Ansari, a resident of Bhikharipur here, in a WhatsApp group. The group's 'administrator' and SP member Aslam Javed was arrested after workers alleged his hand in the act, police said. Singh said after examining the charges and evidence, an FIR was lodged against Ansari and Javed under sections 420 (cheating), 500 (defamation) of the IPC and section 66A (sending offensive messages) of the Information Technology Act.Circle officer (city) Anurag Darshan said legal action will be taken against those members who had forwarded this message to other groups. Meanwhile, SP leader Aslam Javed, also a zila panchayat member, said, "I had removed the picture from the group and filed a complaint against Ansari. Police acted against me under pressure. I will request Pilibhit superintendent of police to exclude my name from the FIR."

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