The Telangana police have arrested a 27-year-old migrant worker for allegedly spreading fake news about the health of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on social media. The man, identified as Panyala Raju, is a native of Jagityal district of Telangana and reportedly made the post in June while working in Saudi Arabia. He was taken into custody at Mumbai airport upon his arrival recently.
The cyber crime wing of the Hyderabad police on June 8 had suo moto registered a case over the Facebook post that claimed that the Telangana Chief Minister had passed away while undergoing treatment for the coronavirus. He also allegedly fabricated the Chief Minister's photograph, showing him being surrounded by doctors while undergoing treatment, said a press statement from the cyber crime police.
The Hyderabad cyber crime police had even issued a lookout circular against the accused against whom cases were booked under Sections 188 (Disobedience of order promulgated), 469 (Forgery) and 505 (1)(b) (Intent to cause fear or alarm in public) of the Indian Penal code (IPC) and Section 54 (False warning) under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. The police say that the intent of the post was to disturb public harmony during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Raju had landed at the Mumbai International airport on August 14 but was detained due to the lookout notice. A team of police officers from Hyderabad visited Mumbai to make a formal arrest of the accused.
Since the pandemic in March, the Hyderabad police said that they have cracked down on several persons for allegedly spreading misinformation over social media. Three persons were arrested and a fourth person was booked for spreading fake news about the coronavirus disease on March 16, even before the COVID-19 related lockdown was put into place.
The accused in the case had allegedly downloaded a picture of a patient on a hospital bed, edited the picture and claimed it to be that of a dead COVID-19 patient from Gandhi Hospital. In another case, a man under the Rachakonda police commissionerate was booked for claiming that people in his locality were COVID-19 positive.