According to a senior police official, “A social media post circulated by Madhyam News, with deliberate and malafide intent to spread misinformation, complete distortion, and twisting of facts, created confusion and chaos in the locality. A suo-moto case was initiated, and two people were arrested.”

The police searched the YouTube channel’s “office” on Tuesday. Pankaj alias Akash Biswas (the anchor) and Ananyo Gupta were arrested during the raid. The investigation is ongoing, police added.

The arrests have drawn criticism on social media, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) expressing support for the journalists.

Suvendu Adhikari, Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal, took to X: “Madhyom is a West Bengal-based news portal that covers news, views, and perspectives on the current state of affairs in West Bengal. Recently, the portal uploaded a video covering the vandalism at a Kali Puja pandal in the Dakshindari area (adjacent to Ultadanga) in Kolkata. The video received a substantial amount of views and went viral. Mamata Police, who failed to secure the Kali Puja Pandal and prevent the desecration of Maa Kali’s idol, arrested journalist Ananyo Gupta today. It seems his fault is that he was covering the truth. This is not just about Free Press, this is an attempt to suppress those voices which raise an alarm when the Sanatan Dharma is under attack in West Bengal.”

The video mentioned by Adhikari has crossed 1,30,000 views as of Wednesday.

Sukanta Majumdar, BJP state president, also criticized the arrests. He wrote on X, “… The crime of journalists? They highlighted the complaints of tension in various puja mandaps during Kalipuja as independent mass media… Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee always beats the drum for the rights of journalists all over the country, and if there’s a movement against her in Bengal, she sends people to jail. The fight for democracy will continue in Bengal.”