Accused in Derogatory Social Media Post Case Arrested at Airport
Mangaluru: Authorities have apprehended an individual implicated in a 2024 case concerning offensive and inflammatory social media posts targeting the Bhagavad Gita and women. The arrest occurred at an airport as the accused, identified as Felix Edward Mathais, 56, arrived from abroad.
The arrest marks a significant development in the case, which initially saw the apprehension of Evin John D’Souza, 57, on August 11, 2024, in connection with the same allegations.
The case, registered as Crime No. 29/2024 at the Kankanady Town Police Station in February 2024, involves multiple charges under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 153(A), 504, 507, and 509, as well as Section 66(D) of the Information Technology (IT) Act. These charges pertain to promoting enmity between different groups, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace, criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication, and insult intended to outrage modesty, respectively, alongside charges related to computer-related offenses.
Complicating the investigation, Felix Mathais was employed in Saudi Arabia at the time the social media posts surfaced. This presented logistical challenges to law enforcement efforts to bring him to justice.
To address this obstacle, a Look Out Circular (LOC) was issued against Mathais, who is originally from the Charkop area of Mumbai. On Friday, December 5, as he arrived at Mumbai’s Sahar Airport on a flight from abroad, immigration officials, acting on the LOC, intercepted him. The police were immediately notified, and a team from Mangaluru was dispatched to take him into custody.
Mathais has since been transported to Mangaluru, where he will be presented before the court to face the charges against him.
Furthermore, authorities have submitted a report to the court seeking the initiation of proceedings to impound Mathais’s passport, indicating the seriousness with which they are treating the matter. The investigation remains ongoing.