Karnal, Nov. 23 -- The Karnal police on Saturday said that they have arrested Haryana Youth Congress' district president Rajat Lather and his associate Ashok Kumar for allegedly spraying black paint on the poster of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Nayab Singh Saini. However, both were granted bail by a local court. The issue came to light when their video went viral on social media and was also posted on the official X account of the party unit on Friday. Following this, BJP leaders informed the Karnal superintendent of police and filed a complaint. However, they were arrested following the complaint by Karnal roadways general manager Kuldeep Singh. On his complaint, a case under sections 352 of BNS, Section 3A of The Haryana Prevention of Defacement of Property Act and Section 3 of Prevention of Damage to Public Property was registered and the accused were arrested, the police said. Singh had alleged that the duo defaced a poster appealing the farmers not to burn stubble, installed at a new bus stand. Lather's counsel Vikrant Rathore argued that the arrests were "illegal" and termed it "politically motivated". "CIA was involved in the probe for the case, which was totally uncalled for as the case does not fall in the category of heinous crimes and no notice was served u/s 41 of CrPC at the time of the arrest of Rajat Lather and Ashok Kumar," Rathore told HT. After the court proceedings, the duo was granted bail by the court. Order was not uploaded till writing of this report. The incident had drawn sharp criticism from the ruling BJP and a mixed response from the Congress. BJP MLA from Karnal Jagmohan Anand said that such behaviour reflects frustration of the opposition, but was not a democratic dissent and defacing the poster ahead of the PM's visit to Kurukshetra was unacceptable. Congress leaders, including district presidents Parag Gaba (Urban) and Rajesh Vaid (Rural) condemned the act, calling it uncalled for. Gaba said that though the party has been protesting on "vote chori", but this form of protest was not right and was also not part of the official party programme. However, the Youth Congress has justified the move by its district president. Thanking the legal team on their bail, the party unit wrote on X, "...Our struggle does not end here. This has further strengthened our fight against the vote thieves and this will continue."...