Kozhikode (Kerala) | A DYFI leader was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the 'Kafir screenshot' case that triggered a major political controversy during the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign in Kerala's Vadakara constituency.

The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) is the youth wing of the opposition CPI (M).

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested Jithin Bhaskar, who allegedly first shared the controversial screenshot in a Left-affiliated WhatsApp group in which he was an administrator, police sources said.

According to the sources, the arrest was recorded after he was questioned by the SIT. Investigators had earlier found that the screenshot first surfaced in the particular WhatsApp group administered by Bhaskar and subsequently spread widely to other groups and social media platforms.

The arrest came in the second week of the SIT's investigation after the newly elected Congress-led UDF government constituted the special team to probe the case.

Bhaskar, who had been questioned earlier in connection with the probe, was summoned again on Tuesday before his arrest was formally recorded, the sources added.

The controversy centred around a social media post circulated ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election in Vadakara, which allegedly urged voters not to support CPI(M) candidate K K Shailaja, referring to her as a "kafir" (non-believer).

The CPI(M) had alleged that Congress-led UDF workers and its candidate Shafi Parambil were behind the creation and circulation of the content, while the UDF maintained that local CPI(M) leaders and workers had orchestrated the campaign.

The SIT was constituted following a request by Congress MLA Parakkal Abdulla, who had written to State Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala seeking a fresh probe into the matter.

Reacting to the arrest, Congress MLA K Jayanth alleged that the episode was part of a deliberate attempt by the CPI(M) to polarise voters on religious lines for electoral gains.

"We had already stated that this was done deliberately with the knowledge of the CPI(M) leadership. Usually, we accuse the Sangh Parivar of engaging in such religious polarisation, but what the Marxist party did in this case went even further," he told reporters.

He alleged that the arrested person was only a "small link" in the chain and claimed that more people were involved behind the scenes.

"The CPI(M) has always resorted to such tactics to divide people. In the present era, however, electronic evidence is exposing such activities and putting the party on the defensive," Jayanth alleged.