The Assam Police on Tuesday detained a retired school principal in Cachar district for a comment on social media suggesting a connection between the blast in Delhi and elections, The Indian Express reported.

On Monday evening, a car exploded near gate number one of the Red Fort metro station. While the cause of the blast is not yet clear, the police have filed a case under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the Explosives Act.

A day later, Nazrul Islam Barbhuiyan, a resident of Durgapur in Cachar and the former principal of Banskandi NMHS School, allegedly commented on a Facebook post about the blast, saying: “Election is coming”, The Assam Tribune reported.

Cachar Assistant Superintendent of Police (Crime) Rajat Kumar Pal confirmed Barbhuiyan’s detention and alleged that the man had “tried to give a political angle” to the incident, The Indian Express reported.

“Yesterday, there was a very big blast in Delhi, which is being investigated by various agencies,” the newspaper quoted Pal as saying. “This is national news. Some people are trying to misuse and politicise this news, because of which divisions can be created among different communities.”

This could lead to an increase in chances of communal incidents, the officer said.

Pal said that the social media cell of the police was alerted about the comment made by Barbhuiyan, adding that the man had been apprehended and was being questioned on his motive behind it.

Cachar Senior Superintendent of Police Partha Protim Das told The Assam Tribune that the retired principal’s comments were inappropriate given the gravity of the national security situation, adding that the intent behind the post was being examined.

“Social media posts will be under surveillance,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.

Barbhuiyan’s detention came hours after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that the state government was ready to renew its social media crackdown, which it had conducted after the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam in April, The Indian Express reported.

The terror attack at Baisaran near the town of Pahalgam on April 22 left 26 persons dead and 17 injured. The terrorists targeted tourists after asking their names to ascertain their religion, the police said. All but three of those killed were Hindu.

At the time, about 97 persons had been arrested in Assam for their social media posts about the attack.

“After the Pahalgam incident, and even yesterday [Monday], we saw one set of people either appreciating this incident or posting some emojis with a lot of joy,” the newspaper quoted Sarma as saying. “That means that these people support terrorists. We have been conducting background checks on these people since last night. And if required, we will arrest some people too.”

The chief minister said that he had directed the police to check who these persons were and where they came from. “If they are from Assam, we have to arrest them,” he added.

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