The Delhi Police on Friday arrested a Congress worker for allegedly sharing a doctored video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in which he can be heard purportedly claiming that the Bharatiya Janata Party would end reservations if it came back to power in the Lok Sabha elections, reported Hindustan Times.
In the actual video, recorded during an election rally in Telangana, Shah had said that the BJP would do away with reservations for Muslims in the southern state. Muslims have had access to 4% reservations in education and government jobs under the Other Backward Classes category in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh since 2007.
However, the doctored version showed him saying that the BJP would end reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes in government jobs and education.
On Friday, the police arrested Arun Reddy, who is the All India Congress Committee national coordinator for social media and runs the “Spirit of Congress” account on X, reported The Indian Express.
Reddy was arrested after multiple raids in the national capital and other states, including Telangana, said Deputy Commissioner of Police Hemant Tiwari in the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations.
Reddy’s electronic devices have been seized to investigate the software he used to tamper with the original video, The Indian Express reported citing an unidentified police official.
“His device will be sent to the forensics lab for further verification,” the officer said.
On Friday, Telangana Congress leader Manickam Tagore said in a social media post that Reddy had been detained by the Delhi Police without any notice or any first information report. “We demand the immediate release of Arun,” Tagore said in a post on X. “This authoritarian misuse of power by the regime is condemnable.”
On Monday, the Delhi Police, which reports to the Union home ministry, registered a first information report in connection with the doctored video under sections of the Information Technology Act.
The police have also summoned Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and other Congress functionaries of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh in connection with sharing the video, reported The Times of India.
Separate first information reports were filed in Maharashtra and Assam in connection with the case, reported The Hindu.
On Monday, the Assam Police had also arrested a Congress worker. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma identified the man arrested as Reetom Singh. According to Singh’s X profile, he is the state war room coordinator of the Congress’ Assam unit.
Also read: Fact-checking five days of Narendra Modi’s speeches: A catalogue of lies
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