The Tamil Nadu police arrested Selvakumar, who is the vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) industrial wing in the state.

According to a news report, he has been arrested for certain tweets he posted between 6 and 11 April following a complaint by a Coimbatore resident.

He has been held for offences under Sections 505(1)(b) (with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquillity) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 66 (computer related offences) of the Information Technology Act.

Condemning the arrest, BJP state president K Annamalai said that the DMK was suppressing the voice of those who spoke out against the ruling party.

According to some political commentators, the arrest is a step to stymy the BJP's plans to release details of corruption and benami assets owned by ministers of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on 14 April.

Annamalai is also expected to provide the receipt for his Rafale watch and his financial details at the same time.

Last December, he said that the BJP is doing deep research to find out all details including benami holdings and the studies till then have revealed a huge figure of Rs 2 lakh crore.

The padayatra covering all 234 constituencies in the state, which was to be launched from Tiruchendur after the release of the details, is likely to be postponed as he is a co-in charge for the Karnataka election.