Mysuru businessman uploads fake murder video, held

BENGALURU: Next time you get a forwarded video, think twice before you upload it on social networking sites as could land in prison. The Central Division police arrested a 30-year-old small-time businessman, hailing from Mysuru, on Saturday after he allegedly uploaded a fake CCTV footage of a murder that allegedly took place at Garuda Mall in Ashok Nagar police limits on Facebook on Friday.

The video took the social networking site by a storm and caught the attention of DCP (Central) Sandeep Patil. He verified the details of the video and found that the incident had taken place in Sri Lanka. Authorities from Garuda Mall too approached the Ashok Nagar police and filed a criminal defamation case against the accused.

Mr Patil, who initiated the investigation, found that the CCTV footage that was being widely circulated on Facebook and WhatsApp sites was misleading the citizens.

A special team was formed and was sent to Mysuru as it was found that the video had been uploaded from that city by the businessman, Deepak Kulkarni. He was arrested on Saturday and brought to the city.

The accused told the police that he had received the video on WhatsApp with a message that the murder occurred in broad daylight in Garuda Mall in Bengaluru. He uploaded the video on his Facebook profile without checking its authenticity. Soon after he shared the video, it went viral and more netizens, who had also tagged the Bengaluru city police, forwarded it.