New Delhi: The Punjab Police have registered an FIR under criminal defamation and computer-related fraud provisions to probe social media influencers and journalists, including those based in Canada, over posts linking a Chandigarh-based conglomerate to alleged student grant fraud in Canada and its real estate projects in Mohali.
The probe comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Canada in December, as India-Canada ties seek to move past a deep freeze under former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The FIR has been filed on the complaint of counsel for the real estate firm GB Realty—a group company of the Optas Group run by Gurinder Bhatti—who alleged that the posts made by the individuals on social media platforms brought the firm into disrepute and were intended to damage its real estate projects in Mohali.
The FIR has been filed under Section 356(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), which deals with offences amounting to criminal defamation, and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which deals with computer-related fraudulent acts.
Although the FIR has been filed against unknown accused, GB Realty’s counsel Paras Sharma has submitted a list of 109 social media posts by influencers and journalists allegedly defaming his client. In the police complaint, Sharma alleged that his client firm, GB Realty, is in the process of introducing “Punjab’s first branded residences” on Mohali’s airport road and in New Chandigarh, after acquiring land from the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA).
However, he further alleged that the social media posts by influencers and journalists linking the firm and its managing director Gurinder Bhatti are undermining the trust of investors, buyers, banks, and business partners vital for their business interests.
“Having acquired land from GMADA, we are introducing Punjab’s first branded residences, located on Airport Road, Mohali, and in New Chandigarh. Recently, some unidentified individuals intent on tarnishing our group’s reputation have spread false rumours on social media about our company and its Managing Director, based on incorrect facts,” Sharma alleged in the complaint which is the basis of the FIR.
“Specifically, they (against influencers and journalists) have attempted to link our company’s name to a fraud case in Canada. This allegation is entirely false and baseless. This content is being disseminated against us via posts, videos and comments on platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and others,” Sharma further alleged in the FIR.
The origin
Among the social media handles facing probe is of Chandigarh-based influencer Shivrattan Dhillon, who posted that Bollywood actor Salman Khan distanced himself from the GB Realty campaign in the wake of fraud allegations in Canada. Although the FIR does not name his X handle as those in the complaint by GB Realty counsel, Dhillon put out a notice issued by the Punjab Police.
Similar posts were made by more than a hundred social media handles of against influencers and journalists, citing Canadian media reports, alleging that the Academy of Learning Career College network in Ontario—run as a franchise by the Optas group company Opulence Education Group—was at the centre of the misappropriation of the Ontario Student Assistance Programme (OSAP) through fraudulent enrollment. According to its website, Opulence Education Group was co-founded by Bhatti and Puneet Khanna.
According to Canadian media reports, the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities earlier this year disqualified students at five private career colleges from receiving student assistance loans under OSAP for the coming year, after raising concerns about some of the schools’ course enrolment practices such as “high-risk” admission, “inadequate attendance tracking” and “compromised participation in asynchronous programmes (online learning)”.
Four of these institutions were operated by the Academy of Learning career colleges of the Opulence Group, according to Canadian media reports.
GB Realty’s counsel Sharma called these allegations “false and baseless” in his complaint to the police.
“This campaign has been deliberately orchestrated by certain unidentified malicious elements to incite hatred and hostility toward us among the general public, with the intent of damaging our major real estate projects in Punjab,” Sharma said in the police complaint.
“This false propaganda is causing severe harm to our reputation, tarnishing our company’s image in the eyes of the public. Furthermore, it is undermining the trust of investors, buyers, banks, and business partners. We request that those responsible for creating, publishing, funding, and disseminating this content be identified. We also request that details about these accounts be obtained from platforms such as YouTube and Meta, and that the objectionable content be removed. We urge the culprits to be dealt with promptly and appropriate legal action against them.”
The Punjab Police have written to social media intermediaries such as X and Instagram to take down this content invoking section 79 (3) (b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
In response to the takedown notice, influencer Dhillon said on X, “If this is the path they want to take, so be it!”
ThePrint reached out to SAS Nagar Police Senior Superitendent of Police, Varun Sharma regarding the scope and ambit of the police investigation. This report will be updated if and when he responds.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: How Punjab’s Canada dream came crashing down