A young techie of a top software firm was arrested on Wednesday in Chennai for sending hate mails sent to President Pratibha Patil in the last three days.

The Chennai Police and the Central Security agencies after screening through dozens of Internet Protcol addresses zeroed in on two persons who were extensively questioned, official sources said.

The sources said one person identified as 23-year-old Sriram Jagannath, a computer programmer, was placed under arrest for sending the hate mails to the President's official website "www.presidentofindia.gov.in".

The emails, sent from the ID "black.monolith@gmail.com", hurled abuses at Patil and also threatened her with dire consequences.

Patil had also received an email on Sunday and it was traced by security agencies to Tamil Nadu.