BJP IT secretary held for posting ‘fake’ communally sensitive content

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested secretary of BJP IT cell Tarun Sengupta from Asansol for allegedly posting ‘fake’ images and video on social media that contain communally sensitive material. Sengupta is the third person to face action since Sunday on similar charges.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has lashed out at the BJP for floating misleading and fake pictures on social media with an eye on triggering communal violence.

During the week, FIRs were lodged in Kolkata against a BJP spokesperson in Delhi. Police also arrested a man from Sonarpur for posting ‘fake’ pictures claiming those to be taken in Basirhat that was rocked by communal violence last week.

Non-bailable sections of Indian Penal Code were slapped against Sengupta, who was arrested from Hirapur in Asansol. He will be produced in Suri court on Wednesday.

“The people of Bengal will not tolerate the fact that BJP is using social media platforms by posting fake pictures and fake news to meet their political ends,” the CM had said on Monday.

On the same day, Kolkata Police registered two non-bailable cases against Nupur Sharma, a BJP spokesperson in Delhi, for sharing on social media a photo of the 2002 Gujarat riots and claiming it to be an image captured during the communal violence at West Bengal’s Basirhat last week.