Infosys employee arrested for social media post urging people to ‘spread the virus’

Mujeeb Mohammed was also sacked by the IT company for urging people to go out and spread the virus on Facebook.

File photo of Infosys building | commons

Bengaluru: An employee of IT giant Infosys has been arrested by the City Crime Branch (CCB) Friday after urging people on social media to “go out and sneeze” and spread the highly contagious novel coronavirus.

In a Facebook post, Mujeeb Mohammed allegedly posted, “Let’s join hands, go out and sneeze with open mouth in public. Spread the virus (sic)”.

Joint Commissioner (Crime) Sandeep Patil said that the accused has admitted to circulating the message and they were now in the process of scrutinising Mohammed’s documents, laptops and mobile phone.

“A case has been registered against Mujeeb who has been in Bengaluru for the past 25 years. We are yet to ascertain why he did it,“ Patil said.

Infosys also took to Twitter late Friday night and announced that they had terminated Mohammed’s employment.

“Infosys has completed its investigation on the social media post by one of its employees and we believe that this is not a case of mistaken identity,” the IT firm said in a statement.

“The social media post by the employee is against Infosys’ code of conduct and its commitment to responsible social sharing. Infosys has a zero tolerance policy towards such acts and has accordingly, terminated the services of the employee,” the statement added.

The social media post by the employee is against Infosys’ code of conduct and its commitment to responsible social sharing. Infosys has a zero tolerance policy towards such acts and has accordingly, terminated the services of the employee. (2/2)

— Infosys (@Infosys) March 27, 2020

Arrested for causing fear and panic in society

The CCB arrested Mohammed under the IT act as well as sections 269 and 270 of the IPC for causing fear and panic in society.

Mujeeb’s inflammatory post was first flagged by Twitter user Naresh Goud, who tagged the IT company’s official twitter handle Thursday. Soon after, Infosys began an internal investigation, while the crime branch detained Mujeeb as part of their investigation.

The Covid-19 pandemic has claimed 21 lives across the country and more than 800 people have now been infected by it. To curb the spread of the virus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide, 21-day lockdown Tuesday.