'Toolkit' issue: NSUI files FIR against BJP leaders Raman Singh, Sambit Patra in Raipur

NEW DELHI: The Congress' students wing, NSUI on Wednesday lodged an FIR here against former Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh and BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra over the 'toolkit issue' for allegedly "forging" the letterhead of AICC Research Department and printing "false and fabricated" content.

The BJP had hit out at the Congress on Tuesday over an alleged toolkit of the opposition party, saying it wants to tarnish the image of the country and Prime Minister Narendra Modi by calling the new strain of the coronavirus the "India strain" or the "Modi strain".

The Congress had accused the BJP of propagating a "fake toolkit" to defame it.

The case for `spreading fake news' and ``promoting enmity between classes' was filed at Civil Lines police station on the complaint of Akash Sharma, state chief of the National Students Union of India.

Sharma alleged that BJP leaders circulated fabricated content using a fake letterhead.

The purpose of spreading this fake content was to divert the attention from the Modi Government's mammoth failure to help people during the coronavirus pandemic, alleged Sharma.

The case was registered under IPC sections 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 505(1)(b) (circulating rumour or report with intent to cause fear or alarm).

The opposition BJP in the state said the Congress's attempt to save its face by registering an FIR will not work.

Senior BJP MLA Brijmohan Agrawal said the Congress had allegedly created a toolkit to defame the prime minister and the country.

When it was exposed, it was trying to save its face by lodging FIRs, he said.