Kolkata cops register 2 FIRs as fake ‘poll violence’ posts go viral

KOLKATA: Kolkata Police and state CID have initiated multiple probes, registered at least two FIRs, and shared a helpline number and an email ID after complaints from citizens that fake news portraying them as “victims of post-poll violence in Bengal” was being posted on social media.
One such person is Abhro Banerjee, who’s in his twenties and works with one of India’s leading media groups in Delhi.
After he’d been declared a “martyr” on the “West Bengal BJP” Facebook page and had started receiving frantic calls from family, friends and colleagues, he was compelled to go on Twitter to say: “I am Abhro Banerjee, living and hale and hearty and around 1,300 km away from Sitalkuchi. BJP IT Cell is now claiming I am Manik Moitra and died in Sitalkuchi. Please don’t believe these fake posts and please don’t worry. I repeat: I am (still) alive.”
His tweet was accompanied by a screenshot of the post that presented him as a “martyr” from Sitalkuchi in Cooch Behar.
When contacted, Banerjee told TOI that he had nothing to add to his tweet. His friends said they were worried. “This factory of lies is very dangerous,” one of them said.
The 5.28-minute clip that said he was dead was later taken down from the “West Bengal BJP” Facebook page but it was live on the “@BJP4India” Twitter handle till much later. This tweet too was deleted later but, before that, had been shared thousands of times.
TOI spoke to BJP Bengal unit spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya on Thursday morning. “I will enquire and get back to you. Let me check the details first,” Bhattacharya said. The “BJPBengal” Twitter handle later clarified that Banerjee’s image was “erroneously included in the video”. “Mamik Moitro succumbed to his injuries in Sitalkuchi following violence by Trinamool members,” the tweet claimed.
“Our cyber cell is probing the complaints we have received and we have already registered two FIRs. Complaints include fake news, false representations, threats issued over the internet and use of old clips from unrelated incidents to foment trouble,” joint commissioner of police (crime) Murlidhar Sharma said. Another senior official said charges against the alleged offenders included publishing or circulating statements or reports containing rumours or alarming news with the intent to create or promote feelings of enmity and hatred on grounds of caste and community, sedition and violation of Information Technology Act regulations.
The fake posts include a video apparently tweeted by a senior BJP women’s wing social media cell functionary. The video shows a group of people dancing with their arms raised in the air, some of them holding daggers, knives and guns to the “Khela hobe” background track. “A separate FIR has been drawn up against this,” an official said. Some other posts have also been flagged as fake by websites that specialize in fact-checking.
The CID’s cyber cell is in touch with both Twitter and Facebook to try and delete misinformation. “We have uploaded and cautioned people against two such fake videos in the past 24 hours,” a senior CID officer said.