'Toolkit' row: Delhi Police turns up at Twitter India's offices to serve notice, calls it part of 'routine process'

Two police teams descended on Twitter's offices in Lado Sarai in Delhi and in Gurgaon on Monday evening as the Delhi Police's Special Cell served a notice Twitter India in connection with the 'COVID toolkit' probe. However, amid criticism on social media and from the Opposition, Delhi Police PRO Chinmoy Biswal clarified that the visit was part of a "routine process" of serving the notice.

"The Delhi police team went to the Twitter office to serve a notice to Twitter as a part of routine process. This was necessitated as we wanted to ascertain who is the right person to serve a notice, as replies by Twitter India MD have been very ambiguous," Biswal said.

The Delhi Police also served the social media giant a notice in connection with the probe and directed it to share information based on which it had classified a related tweet by BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra as "manipulated media", PTI reported.

The BJP has accused the Congress of creating a 'toolkit' that seeks to tarnish the image of the country and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the handling of the COVID pandemic. However, the Congress has denied the allegation and claimed that the BJP is propagating a fake 'toolkit' to defame it.

Last week, Twitter labelled as "manipulated media" a tweet by Patra on the alleged 'toolkit'. Twitter says it "may label tweets that include media (videos, audio, and images) that have been deceptively altered or fabricated".

PRO Biswal said the Delhi Police is inquiring into a complaint in the alleged toolkit matter.

"It appears that Twitter has some information which is not known to us and on the basis of which they have classified it (Patra's tweet) as such. This information is relevant to the inquiry. The Special Cell, which is conducting the inquiry, wants to find out the truth. Twitter, which has claimed to know the underlying truth, should clarify," he said.

The police, however, refused to divulge the contents of the complaint or the identity of the complainant.

Reacting to the development, the Congress slammed the BJP and accused the Delhi Police of carrying out a "cowardly raid" on Twitter.

Such attempts to "murder" freedom of speech lay bare the BJP’s guilt, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.

Cowardly raid on @Twitter unleashed by Delhi Police exposes lameduck attempts to hide the fraudulent toolkit by BJP leaders.

Such attempts to murder freedom of speech lay bare the BJP’s guilt.

Our Statement-:#Toolkit pic.twitter.com/0e4hUHQ0lx

— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) May 24, 2021

In the video statement, Surjewala alleged that the "subjugation of free speech, attempts to stifle every voice that is a dissenting against this government and the state-sponsored fraudulent means to propagate and instill fear continue unabated in Modi government".

"May I ask why the guilty people are sitting in BJP headquarters and in seat of power but you are raiding Twitter's Office in Delhi and Gurgaon... the reason is simple that the BJP is running scared of its lies and getting caught and being branded as manipulated and fraudulent by social media platforms," he said.

The case so far

Earlier, the Delhi Police's notice to Twitter India MD stated that "whereas a preliminary enquiry is being conducted pertaining to the 'Toolkit' which is allegedly released by the Indian National Congress and whereas during the course of the investigation, it has come to our knowledge that you are acquainted with the facts of the matter and are in possession of information with regard to the same."

The police in the notice requested Twitter India MD to be present in the DCP office for the purpose of investigation with all the relevant documents on 22 May at 1 pm. Twitter, however, did not wish to offer any comment.

BJP leaders, including Patra, have posted numerous tweets to attack the Congress over the purported 'toolkit'.

On 19 May, the Congress lodged a police complaint seeking registration of cases against BJP chief JP Nadda, Union minister Smriti Irani, BJP general secretary BL Santosh and Patra over the alleged forgery of documents.

The Chhattisgarh unit of the Congress' students wing NSUI also lodged a complaint against Patra and former chief minister Raman Singh for allegedly "forging" the letterhead of the AICC Research Department and printing "false and fabricated" content on it.

On the basis of the complaint, a case has been filed against Patra and Singh at the Civil Lines police station in Raipur.