A 30-year-old has been arrested for allegedly spreading wrong information through social media and WhatsApp that six residents of a housing complex in New Town had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Muslem Ali Molla, alias Bapon, a resident of Patharghata in Techno City, had allegedly claimed through his posts that the owner of the security agency deployed at the housing complex and his uncle had also tested positive.

As the fake news spread, residents of the complex contacted Techno City police station under the Bidhannagar commissionerate. Guards deployed at the building refused to report for duty, fearing infection, police said.

The Techno City police started a suo motu case and tracked down the accused through his social media account and WhatsApp messages circulated by him.

Molla was booked under sections 188, 203, 505 (i) (b) and 34 of the Indian Penal Code that deal with disobedience to order promulgation of an order by a government official, the circulation of fake information that could create panic in public and lead to a punishment or imprisonment up to three years.