Fake social media accounts haunt Chikoti Praveen as ED continues grilling

HYDERABAD: While both the Enforcement Directorate and Chikoti Praveen remained mum regarding the questions posed to the latter on the second day of his questioning on Tuesday, he made it clear that he was not connected to the Facebook page and Twitter handle that were posting messages in his name.

“Those are fake social media accounts spreading misinformation in my name. I have nothing to do with them,” Praveen told reporters, adding that he planned to lodge complaints with the cybercrime sleuths and take legal action against the admins of the fake accounts.

His prolonged session with the ED meant that Praveen could not lodge any such complaint. However, his interaction with the media resulted in some of the tweets posted in his name disappearing during the course of the day.

Before they were deleted, several posts were made in reference to both the ruling and Opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh and threatening that those involved with him in the casino case would go down with him. A certain tweet claimed that there is a powerful man and Praveen is his disciple, meaning that he was under the protection of someone powerful. Other posts had liberal usage of abuse. The account holders can be traced once the cybercrime sleuths step into the picture.

Meanwhile, ED sources said that Praveen Chikoti, Madhava Reddy and Sampath were questioned separately on the second day followed by group questioning later in the day.

While the ED sleuths reportedly questioned them regarding money laundering, rumours started doing rounds that Praveen used to hand over gambling chips to his clients during their jaunts in Sri Lanka, Nepal and other countries.

‘Powerful guru behind him’
A certain tweet claimed that there is a powerful man and Praveen is his disciple, meaning that he was under the protection of someone powerful. Other posts had liberal usage of abuse. The account holders can
be traced by the cybercrime sleuths