BENGALURU COPS CRACK DOWN ON SOCIAL MEDIA RUMOUR MILL

Karnataka police has started a crackdown on people allegedly spreading false information through social media and trying to stoke communal tension in Uttara Kannada district where a youth’s body was found in Honnavar town last Friday.

Rumours that Paresh Mesta, the youth who died, had been killed as a result of enmity between two religious communities had triggered tension in the district.

A series of agitations demanding immediate action for the death also turned violent in the last few days, with some miscreants setting fire to the official vehicle of inspector general of police (IGP-western range) Hemant Nimbalkar in Kumta town on Monday.

While the final post-mortem report has not yet been released and the cause of death is unknown, the forensic team, in response to a questionnaire sent by the police, had rubbished suggestions that the youngster’s body was mutilated or that he had been burnt to death, as alleged in some social media posts.

The district’s superintendent of police Vinayak Patil said 106 people had been identified for spreading false information, and they were in the process of registering cases against them.

“All the posts were either made on WhatsApp or Facebook,” said Patil.

Home minister Ramalinga Reddy confirmed that he had given the order. “There a is a clear attempt to make the situation tense in the district. It is there for all to see,” he said. “This is the reason it has become imperative to crackdown on such posts,” he added.

However, the government is yet to act against senior BJP leaders who made the claims.

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