Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur)

Toolkit: Delhi Police notice to Cong leaders

- HT Correspond­ents

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 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:

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