A city court in Hyderabad on Friday, May 3, granted conditional bail to five members of the social media unit of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) arrested for circulating a morphed video of Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, on social media. Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police on May 3 announced the arrest of Pendyala Vamshi Krishna, Manne Sathish, Pettam Naveen, Asma Tasleem and Koya Geetha. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Cyber Crimes Hyderabad, Dara Kavitha said they were circulating the morphed video of a speech delivered by Amit Shah during a public meeting.
Amit Shah delivered a speech on April 23 during a public meeting at Medak. The police said that Vamshi Krishna, who received a morphed video of the speech in WhatsApp, allegedly uploaded the same on the @INCTelangana X handle and shared it in various WhatsApp groups. The video purportedly shows Amit Shah promising to scrap SC, ST and OBC reservations if BJP returns to power after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The remaining four accused saw the video and allegedly further shared it to their individual X handles. When notified by X about sensitive content, they reportedly deleted it.
Thus, they violated the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), police said. The DCP has cautioned people not to circulate any videos or photos related to political parties as this may breach the MCC related to the ongoing election for Lok Sabha.
According to the police, the five accused work in the TPCC social media unit and their job was to monitor social media posts related to political parties and upload them on their official and personal X handles.
They were produced before the Nampally Court, which granted them conditional bail. They were asked to deposit a personal bond of Rs 10,000 each with two sureties and the court directed them to appear before the Investigation Officer every Monday and Friday till further orders.
The arrests were made in connection with the case registered on a complaint by BJP state General Secretary, G Premender Reddy, in which he stated that the Telangana Congress Pradesh Congress Party in its X account posted morphed/fabricated video of HM Shah.
Cyber Crime Police, Hyderabad had registered a case under Sections 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation), 505(1)(c) (statements conducing to public mischief), 171(g) (false statement in connection with an election), 502(2) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 125 (promoting enmity between classes in connection with election) of the Representation of the People Act 1951.
Police seized five mobile phones, one Ball Slide (Tab), two Acer laptops and two CPUs.