Notices have been served to 12 more people for allegedly uploading and sharing on social media a doctored video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s speech, the Delhi Police said on Tuesday, as the political slugfest over the controversy intensified.
In total, 17 people, including Telangana Chief Minister and Congress leader Revanth Reddy, have been issued notices to appear before the investigation officer (IO) of the case. Sources, however, said Reddy is “unlikely” to join the probe and may send his representative.
Reddy and four others of the Telangana Congress unit were served notices on Monday to appear before the IO on May 1 with their mobile-phones, laptops, tablets or any other electronic devices using which they could have created, uploaded or posted the video on their ’X’ accounts.
According to the sources, if a person is served notice under section 160/91 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the person can either make a physical appearance before the IO or can send a legal representative.
Police have summoned Reddy as Telangana Congress president and not as chief minister, they said.
On a reply from social media platforms on the matter, an official said the IO still awaits one from them, including ’X’, about the source of the video.
The sources said the 12 people served notices on Tuesday belong to opposition parties.
Targeting the INDIA bloc, BJP president JP Nadda at a “professionals meet” organised as part of the party’s Lok Sabha poll campaign in Karnataka’s Shivmogga accused opposition parties, including the Congress, of indulging in “divisive politics”.
He said that “a few days ago there was a video and they were trying to create an impression and environment that the BJP is against SCs, STs and OBCs, and if we come to power the reservations for these communities will go.”
“They came out with a fabricated video… people and media exposed the INDI alliance’s deepfake video. The sad part of it is that the fake video was uploaded on social media from Telangana CM Revanth Reddy’s phone and all partners of the INDI alliance tried to make it viral,” he said.
Hitting out at the ruling BJP, Congress general secretary communications Jairam Ramesh claimed that the Delhi Police’s summons to the Telangana chief minister is yet another “nail in the coffin of free and fair elections”, and asked whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi is afraid that the CM will “torpedo” his party’s prospects.
On Sunday, the Delhi Police’s Special Cell had registered an FIR after the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), which is under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), 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.
On the Delhi Police’s notices, the Congress on Monday warned of similar action against BJP leaders in Congress-ruled states, while the BJP lodged a complaint with the Election Commission against the Congress, alleging that it circulated the “deep fake and morphed” video of Shah to derail the poll process, and demanded strict action against the party.
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