What’s The Case in Which Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s Name Has Been Dragged?

Varanasi: Police in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi had booked Google CEO Sundar Pichai and 17 others last week over a video that allegedly defamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi but later removed the tech giant officials’ names from the FIR, police officials said on Friday. The names of Pichai and three other Google top officials were removed after they were found not involved in the case, a police official privy to the probe told PTI over the phone.

The FIR was lodged following a complaint by a local resident who claimed that he got over 8,500 threat calls on his mobile phone after he objected to the video that he first came across in a WhatsApp group and later on YouTube, where it has over five lakh views, the officials said.

Besides the US-based Pichai, others named in the FIR are three Google India officials, including Sanjay Kumar Gupta, according to the FIR lodged at Bhelupur police station on February 6.

Google’s response over the case is awaited.

Among the rest named in the FIR are Ghazipur district-based musicians who allegedly made the video song, a recording studio and a local music label company.

The FIR has been lodged under Indian Penal Code sections 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (criminal intimidation), 500 (defamation), 120B (party to a criminal conspiracy).

Charges under the Information Technology Act’s section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material) have also been invoked against the accused, according to the FIR, which has been accessed by PTI.

The names of Google officials were removed from the FIR the same day as it turned out that they were not involved in the case. Investigation on other points is underway, an official from the local Bhelupur police station told PTI.

It said, Tactfully the contemnors converted these three villages of one Gram Panchayat falling under territory of Odisha to three different Gram Panchayats. The three Gram Panchayat created by the contemnor were made part of Salur Mandal.

Odisha said that although the notification was issued on March 5, 2020, the contemnors made sure that it was kept a deadly secret so that local authority of the Petitioner State shall not get to know about it .

Therefore, for these three self-created Gram Panchayats, nomination centre has been kept at 20 kilometre away in the district of Vizinagaram (AP) from these villages namely at GP Building (Sachivalayam) Kurukutti and GP Building (Sachivalayam) Thonam, the plea said.

The Odisha government said that out of the three Gram Panchayats, Sarpanch and other members are elected unopposed in two. However, in one Gram Panchayat election is to be conducted as per schedule.

That the contemnor tactfully issued the impugned notification and attempted to conduct election during the pandemic time when the entire state machinery was engaged to fight COVID-19 pandemic.

“The impugned offending action of the contemnors only came to knowledge of the petitioner on February 2, 2021 when the local Tahesildar went for a field visit to the ‘Kotia Group of Villages’, it said.

It said that the attempt on the part of the contemnor to conduct election in the newly self-named three villages pertaining to the territory of petitioner state is nothing but a wilful attempt to sabotage the dictum of this court.