Man held for creating fake FB account in Patanjali co-founder Acharya Balkrishna’s name

The Sector 20 police on Saturday arrested a 30-year-old man for allegedly running a fake social media account in the name of Acharya Balkrishna, the co-founder of Patanjali Ayurveda. A mobile phone and two SIM cards have been recovered from the possession of the accused, police said.

According to police, the accused, identified as Mohammad Zeeshan, would often contact people and send them vulgar messages from the account.

Police said the complainant told them that the content of the messages indicated that the accused wanted to malign Balkrishna’s reputation.

Manish Kumar Saxena, station house officer, Sector 20 police station, said, “Pramod Joshi, who runs a firm in Sector 5, brought the crime to our notice. Joshi came across the account on Facebook. He said the accused gave him a WhatsApp number, saying that the number belongs to Acharya Balkrishna, while chatting on Facebook.”

Police said a case regarding the matter has been registered under sections 419 (punishment for impersonation), 420 (cheating) and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Information Technology Act. Zeeshan, a resident of Saharanpur, was in Noida when he was arrested, police said.

Saxena said, “We had information that he would be in the city. We arrested him from outside a car showroom in Sector 10. According to the accused, who is a farmer, the account had been created by his nephew. He has said that it was not his motive to insult anyone.”

Patanjali Ayurveda spokesperson, SK Tijarawala demanded a thorough probe. He said, “This was a targeted attack to destroy the reputation of an organisation that is spread across the country. It is a strict offence. There should be a thorough investigation into the matter. Such an act is not done by just an individual. The motive is to put doubt in the minds of people. We respect free speech but to malign an individual’s image is not right.”

First Published: Aug 12, 2018 02:19 IST