
The Lucknow Police Tuesday lodged an FIR against a Samajwadi Party (SP) spokesperson and two others for allegedly circulating fake news and defaming builder and BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Seth and his family in connection with the death of a 41-year-old Thai woman who succumbed to Covid-19 in a city hospital on May 3.
The city police started an inquiry into the woman’s death on Sunday after the MP met the commissioner D K Thakur and sought a detailed probe. According to the preliminary inquiry, Piyathida Wichapornsakul came to India in April and flew to Lucknow around April 28. She was admitted to a hospital the following week, where she died during treatment. The police cremated her body in the presence of one of her acquaintances on May 5.
A complaint by Seth’s personal assistant Anoop Kumar Pandey, based on which the FIR was registered, read, “I was told by my friends that some fake posts were being circulated on social media. The posts have defamed Sanjay Seth and his family. A person named IP Singh posted something on Twitter and it was reposted by Ram Dutt Tiwari, and was telecast with one photograph. There is a need to probe this and find the source of the post… Similarly, one Mahendra Kudiya, which also needs investigation.”
Kudiya, who identifies himself on Twitter as a journalist, apologised to Seth, tweeting on Tuesday evening.
IP Singh, however, claimed he was being targeted for demanding a probe into the woman’s death.
“We will soon identify the other two persons,” Police Commissioner DK Thakur said.
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