NEW DELHI, April 29: Police has asked Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to join its probe on May 1 in connection with Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s doctored video being circulated on social media, official sources said on Monday.
According to the sources, the police have issued notices to five members of the Telangana Congress, including its chief Reddy, who posted the video on X.
Reddy has been asked to appear with his mobile phone allegedly used for posting the fake video on X, the sources said.
The Special Cell of the Delhi Police had on Sunday registered an FIR after the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), which is under the Ministry of Home Affairs, filed a complaint about the doctored video of Shah where his statements indicating a commitment to abolish quota for Muslims on religious ground in Telangana were changed to make it seem that he was advocating scrapping of all reservations.
The sources in the Special Cell said that now arrests are likely to follow across the country.
Earlier, Amit Malviya, the 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.
A police complaint was also filed by the BJP.
The Delhi Police filed the FIR under sections 153 (causing provocation with intention to cause riot), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc), 465 (forgery), 469 (forgery to harm the reputation of any party), and 171G (publishing false statement with intent to affect the result of an election) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under the Information Technology Act, the police said.
Meanwhile, the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of the Special Cell has now approached social media platforms to identify the source of the video and those who have spread it.
“We have formed many teams to investigate the matter properly and arrest the main culprits. We have written to X, formerly known as Twitter, and other social media platforms regarding the video. We are investigating both the source of the video and those responsible for its widespread circulation,” said another source.
According to the complaint filed by Sinku Sharan Singh of I4C, 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”.
“The video seems to be doctored, spreading misleading information with the intention of creating disharmony among communities which is likely to affect public tranquillity and public order issues. It is requested to kindly take necessary legal action as per the provisions of law.” (PTI)
