Haryana: Tax consultant from Gurugram arrested for posting inflammatory message on WhatsApp

Bagish Jha | TNN | Updated: Apr 4, 2020, 18:50 IST

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GURUGRAM: A tax consultant was arrested by Gurugram police in Haryana from Baskushla village for spreading rumours and disharmony through social media. The accused had posted a controversial text message in a WhatsApp group related to Tablighi Jamaat and people who attended the meet.
The accused, identified as Anil Singh (26), a resident of Baskushla village, is an advocate by education and a tax consultant by profession. On Friday at around 5pm, Singh posted a text message in a WhatsApp group saying that person who had attended Tablighi Jamaat was arrested from the village and made some controversial observations in the message. The message was forwarded to some other groups and one of the receivers, who was not part of the group in which message was first posted, filed a complaint with the police.
DCP (Manesar) Deepak Saharan said within few hours of receiving complaint, the accused was arrested with the help of the cyber police. “We located the origin of the message and the person who had shared it,” said the DCP, adding that police arrested the accused before the message could have reached the large audience. He said the message circulated by the accused was false and it could have caused social disharmony.
A case was registered under section 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 505 (II) (Statements conducing to public mischief) of the IPC and section 54 (makes or circulates a false alarm or warning) of the Disaster Management Act 2005.
“During investigation it was found that accused is advocate by education and works as tax consultant in Gurugram. We seized the mobile used for posting the message,” said the DCP adding that cyber police station of Gurugram is monitoring the social media, and a team at each DCP office is also scanning the social media and one person has been assigned at each police station to track social media post in their respective areas and act against rumours.
Deputy commissioner Amit Khatri also issued an advisory urging people not to post or forward any fake, false information and objectionable text, video and message. “Strict action would be taken against persons who will be found to spreading rumours and inflammatory message and post,” said Khatri.
Besides keeping eye on the social media, the local police are strictly enforcing lockdown on the streets. In last 24 hours around 35 cases have been registered and nearly 50 people have been arrested for violating lockdown.