New Delhi: The Delhi Police has summoned Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy in connection with its probe into a purportedly doctored video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah doing the rounds on social media platforms ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
Reddy has been asked to appear for questioning on 1 May.
On Sunday, the Delhi Police Special Cell filed an FIR on a complaint by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to investigate the video in question. The FIR stated that the video was being circulated “with the intention of creating disharmony among communities”.
The FIR was filed under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) 153A (creating enmity between different groups on different grounds), 465 (forgery) and 171G (publishing false statements and undue influence).
“The video seems to be doctored, spreading misleading information with the intention of creating disharmony among communities, which is likely to affect tranquility and public order issues,” read the FIR.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in a post on X Monday that the state police have arrested one Reetom Singh in connection with the video. Sources in the Assam Police told ThePrint that Singh is a resident of Guwahati. On the microblogging platform X, Singh describes himself as a “rocket scientist”, “lawyer”, “social engineer” and “war room coordinator” of the Assam Congress.
Besides the MHA, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), too, has alleged that a video of Amit Shah purportedly saying that reservation of Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste should be scrapped is doctored and fake. This video in question was widely shared by several social media handles, including those associated with the Congress party.
The BJP has maintained that the original video is of Shah discussing that the 4 percent reservation for Muslims in Telangana is “unconstitutional”.
Meanwhile, multiple media outlets have suggested that the video of Shah doing the rounds on social media is doctored and that the original video is from a public meeting last year where he had spoken about Muslim reservation in Telangana.
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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