The Madhya Pradesh Police on Sunday registered a first information report against Congress leader Digvijaya Singh for allegedly circulating a purportedly edited video of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, NDTV reported. Chouhan is reportedly seen promoting the consumption of liquor in the video. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s leaders had filed a complaint against Singh for sharing the video on social media.
“The matter of editing an old video of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and circulating it on social media with an aim of spoiling his image has been taken seriously,” tweeted Deputy Inspector General of Bhopal, Irshad Wali. “The case is being investigated by registering an FIR under the Cyber Act.”
Nischal Jharia, a senior officer of the Crime Branch, said the cyber cell’s social media monitoring unit registered a case on Sunday evening against 11 people who had retweeted the video and posted derogatory comments against Chouhan.
A nine-second part of the 2.19-minute video was shared on Twitter to malign Chouhan’s image, the BJP leaders said in their complaint against the senior Congress leader. The chief minister’s remarks were a statement made against the liquor policy under the previous Congress-led Madhya Pradesh government.
The video has now been deleted, said BJP MLA Rameshwar Sharma after sharing a screenshot of it. The politicians had also sought a case against Singh’s associates.
“I had raised a case of cheating the Adivasis in the area under Shivraj Singh Chouhan, fearing that the BJP has filed a case against me,” tweeted Digvijaya Singh on Monday. “I demand that the FIR registered against the chit fund company should be investigated immediately. If you want to investigate the fake video, then get it done by the person who made this fake video.”
The case against the Congress leader has been registered under sections 465 (punishment for forgery), 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory), and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code, according to India Today.
Meanwhile, the state’s Home Minister Narottam Mishra said that he has asked the authorities to initiate strict legal action against the offenders, who were involved in twisting Chouhan’s statement against the liquor mafia, reported News18.
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