The Kolkata Police stated on Wednesday that the man whose complaint led to the arrest of 22-year-old law student Sharmishta Panoli has been booked for posting “malicious and inflammatory” content on social media, reported PTI.

However, the man, identified as 30-year-old Wajahat Khan Qadri, was absconding, an unidentified police officer told the news agency. “We have started an investigation into the case,” said the officer.

Qadri was booked under the same sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita as Panoli – promoting enmity between different groups, deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any class of citizens, intentional insult with the intent to provoke a breach of peace and statements that incite public mischief, The Indian Express quoted an unidentified police officer as saying.

Panoli, a fourth-year business and law student at a Pune university, was arrested by the Kolkata Police in Gurugram on May 30 for her remarks about Prophet Muhammad on social media. She deleted the post later and issued an apology on X.

A case was filed against Panoli based on Qadri’s complaints at Kolkata’s Garden Reach Police Station on May 15. An arrest warrant had been issued against her on May 17, after which she was arrested from Gurugram, brought to Kolkata on a transit remand and remanded to judicial custody till June 13.

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday refused to grant interim bail to the 22-year-old law student.

Following Panoli’s arrest, at least five complaints were filed against Qadri in West Bengal, including two at the Garden Reach Police Station, for alleged hate speech and derogatory remarks on social media that hurt religious sentiments, The Indian Express reported.

Qadri had allegedly demanded action against Panoli on social media and later celebrated her arrest.

The FIR against him was registered based on one of the complaints filed by a man named Sujit Ghosh at the Golf Green Police Station, according to the newspaper.

The first complaint against Qadri was filed by a Hindu outfit, Shri Ram Swabhiman Parishad, on June 2, The Indian Express reported. The outfit alleged that the 30-year-old’s posts promoted enmity between religious groups and demanded his arrest for hurting “Hindu sentiments”.

Several complaints have been filed against Qadri in different parts of the country, including Mumbai, Delhi and Assam, for alleged hate speech and making derogatory remarks against religious deities on social media, PTI reported.

An unidentified police officer told The India Express that the Assam Police and Delhi Police were also looking for him. A three-member team of the Assam Police had visited the area where Qadri lives in Kolkata’s Garden Reach.

The 30-year-old is the co-founder of the Rashidi Foundation.