Postcard.news website owner Mahesh Hegde arrested on charge of  promoting fake news, religious enmity

BENGALURU: The Central Crime Branch police on Thursday arrested a website owner, Mahesh Vikram Hegde, for allegedly promoting communal enmity and trying to blemish the Congress government in Karnataka.Hegde, the owner of Postcard.news website, now has two cases registered against him for posting fake news and distorting history to usher in communal discord. One case was registered in the Sanjayanagar police station last year while the latest — the Thursday arrest — was over a complaint filed with the Cyber Crime police station on March 21. 

Hegde allegedly posted fake news on the Twitter account of Postcard.news on March 18 by posting a photo of a Jain Muni on March 18, and stating: “Very sad news. In Karnataka Jain Muni attacked by Muslim youth… No one is safe in Siddaramaiah’s Karnataka”. Hegde, in his Twitter account had also put up the same photo and post. 

Gaffar Baig, a resident of Whitefield, approached the Cyber Crime police and filed a complaint on March 21.  The police registered the case under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 66 (computer related offences) of the Information Technology (IT) Act. 

The case was registered against Hegde, Postcard News, Gaurav Pradhan and Deepak Shetty. The police said the alleged fake post related to an accident at Kavalande village near Nanjanagud on March 11 caused by a drunk rider, which injured the Jain Muni, who was returning to Maharashtra after attending Mahamasthakabhisheka at Shravanabelagola.

Upset over the alleged harassment from wife and in-laws, a 36-year-old owner of a paying guest accommodation committed suicide by hanging in Kurubarahalli on Wednesday night. The deceased is Santhosh Kumar, a native of Chittoor in Andra Pradesh, who was running Jyothi PG.

A senior police officer said that the incident took place around midnight when he was alone in the PG. He went to a room in the first floor and hanged himself. The incident came to light early morning when the housekeeping staff found him hanging and alerted the police. He made a  selfie video where he named his wife and mother-in-law.

Police booked abatement against his wife Gayatri and in-laws Bhagyamma and Somashekar under IPC section 304 A (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) based on a note and suicide video. Investigation revealed that the couple had married four years ago, but did not live together even for six months. 

PM MODI FOLLOWS HEGDE ON TWITTER
Mahesh Vikram Hegde, who has over 75,000 followers on his Twitter account, is also followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His status on Twitter reads, “Blessed to be followed by PM Narendra Modi”.