Delhi police visit Gandhi Bhavan to issue notice on Amit Shah video
Hyderabad: A Delhi Police Special Cell team visited Gandhi Bhavan, the state Congress headquarters, and served notices on four persons including Hyderabad city Congress spokesperson and social media staff of the party for posting an allegedly fake video of Union minister Amit Shah.
Following the notices, TPCC president and Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, who is campaigning in Sedam, Karnataka, said that the BJP government at the Centre was used to sending teams of the CBI, ED and income-tax department to the doors of Opposition during the elections. This time they are using the Delhi Police as well.
“Some posting was made on social media, (they) reached Telangana Gandhi Bhavan with the notice that we will arrest Telangana Congress president and Telangana Chief Minister. That means Narendra Modi ji is now using Delhi Police to win elections. ED, income tax, CBI are over,” he said.
In Hyderabad, Delhi Police Special Cell inspector Neeraj Chaudhary served notices on Asma Tasleema, spokesperson of the Congress cty unit, , Manne Satish, Manne Satish Kumar, Naveen and Shiva Shanker of the Congress social media team
Under Section 91/160 CrPC, notice sought production and information in connection with the case registered by Special Cell regarding the posting of the morphed videos of Amit Shah on social media sites which were tampered with to show that he was speaking against reservations.
"For the purpose of investigation, the social media team members including Asma Tasleema are directed through the notice to provide the details, documents, electronic gadgets to Neeraj Choudhary, Special Cell, and join the investigation on May 1 at 10. 30 am at Room No 302 of IFSO office, Dwaraka Sector in Delhi," the notice said.
The Delhi Police asked the Congress social media cell members for details of the video tweeted on social media, mobile phone, laptop and any other electronic device through which created/ uploaded the video on X accounts, electronic devices used by the social media cell members for the purpose of recording of the video before uploading and tweeting the same.
The Delhi police also said in the notice that the failure to comply with the terms of the notice as required will attract penal, coercive criminal proceedings.
A 31-year-old man identified as Reetom Singh was arrested on Monday for allegedly sharing the fake video. Reetom Singh is associated with the Assam Congress and is the party’s “war room coordinator”, his X profile says.
A day after the Delhi Police registered a case following a doctored video of Union home minister Amit Shah surfaced online, Rajasthan BJP's social media department on Monday filed a fresh FIR in connection with the incident.
Earlier, Amit Malviya, head of the BJP’s IT department, had alleged that the Telangana Congress unit was circulating a doctored video of Shah that was entirely fabricated and capable of inciting widespread violence.
“The matter is under investigation. We are trying to trace the origin of the video and people who posted it will be questioned and notice will be served to them to participate in the probe,” said the sources.
Case file
1) Delhi police Special Cell registers an FIR after the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), under the Union home ministry, files complaint about the doctored video of Amit Shah, making it appear that he was advocating the scrapping of all reservations.
2) Special cell sources say arrests are likely to follow across the country.
3) Special Cell’s Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit approaches social media platforms to identify the source of the video and those who have spread it.
4) Case registered under Sections 153, 153A, 465, 469, and 171G of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 66C of the Information Technology Act.
5) According to the complaint, some doctored videos are being circulated on social media with “the intent of creating disharmony among communities which is likely to affect public tranquillity and public order”.