A man who was arrested on Monday for allegedly making abusive remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Facebook, had made the comments in a private conversation, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday, quoting the police.

Thirumurugan was taken into custody in Tamil Nadu’s Srivilliputhur town after a local Bharatiya Janata Party member filed a complaint against him. The the latter had sent Thirumurugan a meme on the Facebook Messenger to which he replied with “filthy language” about Modi, the police said. The meme was critical of actor Vijay’s scenes in the Tamil film Mersal.

Earlier, Thirumurugan was believed to have made the remarks as a comment on a friend’s Facebook post. He has admitted that he made the remarks on the private chat. He has been booked under Section 67 of the Information Technology Act and Section 505 (public mischief) of Criminal Procedure Code.

The 19-year-old has been sent to a prison for offenders of the 18-22 age group.

Mersal, made by Atlee and starring Vijay in a triple role, has had a dream run at the box office but has met with opposition from local BJP leaders. They claimed that the movie portrayed India in poor light and contained misleading information about the government’s initiatives like Digital India and the Goods and Services Tax.