New Delhi :Two days after a bench headed by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana lamented that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and other agencies “are not helping the judiciary at all”, the agency said it has arrested five people in the last one month for allegedly posting derogatory content on social media against judges and the judiciary.The arrests have been made in an unrelated case, in which a probe was launched by the CBI in November last year on the orders of the Andhra Pradesh high court.

Officials who didn’t want to be named said they have also examined a LokSabha member – N Suresh and a former MLA – AmanchiKrishnamohan, both belonging to YSR Congress, in the matter to unearth a larger conspiracy.

The five people arrested by the premier agency include - PattapuAadarsh and Lavanuru Samba Siva Reddy from Andhra Pradesh (arrested on Saturday); Dhami Reddy Konda Reddy and PamulaSudheer (arrested on July 28) and LingareddyRajasekhar Reddy (who was arrested on July 9 on his arrival from Kuwait). “We were monitoring Lingareddy’s movements. The moment he landed in India, the officers took him into their custody,” said one of the officers cited above.

            CBI spokesperson R C Joshi said – “It was alleged that the accused, by intentionally targeting the judiciary, made derogatory posts on social media platforms against judges and the judiciary, following some court verdicts delivered by the judges of the high court of Andhra Pradesh”.

After registration of the case, the CBI traced 13 of the 16 accused named in the first information report (FIR) on various digital platforms, he said.Two accused are said to be based in the US while another person is also abroad somewhere, said a second officer.“We have so far examined 11 out of the 13 accused people and arrested five out of them. Evidence against the remaining six accused is being evaluated for further necessary legal action. CBI is pursuing the case to secure the presence of two other accused said to be abroad for their examination,” Joshi added.