Kolkata Police summon IAS officer

The Kolkata Police have summoned a Rajasthan-based IAS officer for allegedly sharing a fake West Bengal government Eid holiday notification on social media recently.

Sanjay Dixit, who is posted as a commissioner, was summoned by the Kolkata Police earlier this week for an enquiry into the remarks on the fake notification that falsely claimed that the government had announced a five-day holiday for the festival, Kolkata Police Joint CP (crime) Praveen Tripathi said.

“Dixit has been asked to appear before them on June 29. We have issued notice well in advance,” he said.

“Kolkata Police had filed an FIR at the cyber police station after the fake notification went viral on social media.

“Some people from Kolkata, who had shared the post without verifying it, have been questioned. Dixit too will be questioned in this connection,” Tripathi said.

As per the initial list of holidays for 2018 released by West Bengal government, the tentative Eid holiday was mentioned as June 16.

However, the fake notification, which was re-tweeted by Dixit, said that Bengal government has announced an extended Eid holiday from June 12 to June 15.

“In order to celebrate Eid festival, which falls on 12 June to 15 June, 2018, in a befitting manner, the Governor is pleased to declare state government holiday on 12 to 15 June, 2018, in addition to 16 June, 2018, which has already been notified as a public holiday,” the fake notification read.

Dixit had later deleted the tweet.

According to Tripathi, Dixit re-tweeted the notification even after Kolkata Police had clarified that it was fake.

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