Toolkit: Delhi Police notice to Cong leaders

THE NOTICE WAS SERVED TO RAJEEV GOWDA AND ROHAN GUPTA, WHO HAD THEMSELVES FILED A COMPLAINT AGAINST BJP FOR PROPAGATING THE ‘FAKE’ TOOLKIT

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police has served notices to two leaders of the Congress who had filed a complaint seeking a first information report (FIR) against some senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders for allegedly propagating a “fake toolkit” and attributing it to the former, officials aware of the developments said, as the controversy continued to snowball

The two leaders were sent notices on May 21, the same day Twitter India’s managing director Manish Maheshwari was sent a similar notice, asking them to join the investigation by the special cell on May 22, even as none of the three turned up, officials said on condition of anonymity.

The special cell, which is the Delhi police’s anti-terror unit, is probing the allegation. No first information report (FIR) has been registered yet, officials said.

A senior police officer associated with the case said that no fresh notices have been sent to the two Congress leaders. “These notices were served last week based on a complaint received from them (Congress leaders) by the deputy commissioner of the police (DCP) special cell. They were asked to join the probe so that they could help us in carrying the investigation forward. They could shed light on the allegations that the toolkit circulated online was fake. Since they were acquainted with the case and possessed information related to it, they were asked to join the probe, which they have not,” the officer said.

The two Congress leaders – Rajeev Gowda, who heads the Congress party’s research department, and Rohan Gupta, the party’s social media head – confirmed receiving the notices.

The two also said they responded to the police the following day (May 22).

“In our reply we have stated our party had also filed a complaint with the Chhattisgarh Police. The Chhattisgarh Police addressed our complaint, and they registered an FIR. Since the case in Chhattisgarh is already proceeding, we want to continue with their (Chhattisgarh Police) investigation,” said Godwa, who is also the party’s spokesperson.

When contacted over phone, Rohan Gupta gave a similar response and said, “In our reply we also asked the Delhi Police to transfer the details available with them regarding the case to the Chhattisgarh Police. We have told them that we are joining the Chhattisgarh Police’s investigation as co-complainant.”

The Delhi Police officially did not comment on the matter.

The joint complaint by Gowda and Gupta was filed with Delhi Police commissioner SN Shrivastava and the Tughlak Road police station on May 18. It was later transferred to the special cell. Police said they are conducting a preliminary inquiry

On May 18, BJP leader Sambit Patra posted on Twitter two purported documents of the Congress’s research department on Twitter and called them a toolkit with “elaborate plans” to defame Prime Minister Narendra Modi, politicise religion and help build a “biased narrative” over Covid-19 management and the Central Vista project. Other BJP leaders also joined Patra in the allegations.

Gowda immediately hit back and accused the BJP of propagating a fake “toolkit” on Covid-19 mismanagement and attributing it to his party. The same day Godwa and Gupta filed a police complaint.

On Monday, Delhi police officials visited Twitter’s offices in Delhi and Gurugram to secure the participation of Twitter’s MD Maheshwari in the probe. Police officials, privy to the investigation, have said that Maheswari has refused to join investigation citing that he is not the concerned person.

Twitter flagged Patra’s tweet on Friday as “manipulated media”. The information technology ministry has already written to Twitter, expressing its displeasure at the tagging, and asking it to remove the descriptor.

Twitter defines any media (videos, audios, and images) that have been deceptively altered or fabricated as manipulated. Tweets are labelled under this category when they are “likely to cause harm”.

Meanwhile, the Congress wrote to Twitter urging it to tag as “manipulated media” tweets of Union ministers for “spreading false and malicious propaganda” related to the alleged toolkit.

In his letter to Twitter, Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala cited links to the tweets of 11 Union ministers, including Piyush Goyal, Harsh Vardhan, Ramesh Pokhriyal, Ravi Shankar Prasad, and Smriti Irani, for action. “You would appreciate that the forged, fabricated material and the claims made under the malicious #CongressToolkitExposed, by the various ministers above-named, is identical to the material that has already marked as ‘manipulative media’, by Twitter, on various accounts including that of the BJP SpokespersonMr. Sambit Patra,” he wrote.

“...people tend to believe ‘true’ and take on face value, any information that is put up directly by a Union Minister of the Government of India through his/her official/verified Twitter account.” Surjewala argued it becomes even more important that their tweets are also classified as manipulated media. He added ministers should be dealt with the same yardstick.

There was no immediate response from the BJP or Twitter.