Hyderabad police arrest man for spreading fake news about CM KCR

The Hyderabad cyber crime police have arrested a man for spreading fake news about Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on social networking site Facebook.

The 27-year-old migrant, identified as Panyala Raju shared a post on Facebook which claimed that the Chief Minister had passed away while undergoing treatment for coronavirus. The post showcased the CM's photograph who was being surrounded by doctors. The police took suo moto cognizance of the Facebook post and arrested Raju.

It is learned that Raju, a native of Jagtial made the post in June while he was working in Saudi Arabia. The police detained Raju at Mumbai airport on his arrival on August 14 due to the lookout notice issued by the Hyderabad police. Later, a police team from Telangana has gone to Mumbai to make the formal arrest of the accused.

They registered the case against him under section Sections 188 (Disobedience of order promulgated), 469 (Forgery) and 505 (1)(b) (Intent to cause fear or alarm in public) of the Indian Penal code (IPC) and Section 54 (False warning) under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

The cyber crime police have cracked down on several persons for spreading false news on social media. In one such case, a man under Rachakonda police commissionerate limits was booked for claiming that people in his locality were coronavirus positive.