Telangana Police on Thursday arrested five members of the state Congress IT Cell in connection with a doctored video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. A team from the Delhi Police, which is investigating the case, is also present in Telangana. However, the Hyderabad Cyber Crime unit carried out the arrests.
Earlier, the Delhi Police summoned Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy for allegedly sharing the video on X platform. Reddy’s lawyer appeared before the Delhi Police on Wednesday, stating that the Congress leader had no involvement in creating or posting the doctored video of Amit Shah’s speech.
As reported earlier by this newspaper, the special cell of Delhi Police has dispatched teams to Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh to investigate the matter further.
Confirming the developments, NPCC President Supongmeren Jamir disclosed to Mokokchung Times that the police had met him on 30 April in this regard. However, Jamir refrained from making any conclusive statements regarding the video, stating that it was “too early” to comment. A source close to NPCC acknowledged that the case is against the NPCC Minority Cell account on X. However, since it is an ongoing investigation, the source preferred not to comment further on the matter.
According to IANS, along with other leaders, one leader from Nagaland has been summoned to appear before police with their mobile phones, of which Jamir confirmed.
According to news agency PTI, Police sources informed that they are close to identifying the creator of the deepfake video. However, before reaching out to the suspect, they need to verify information about others who uploaded or forwarded it. Notices were also issued to five more individuals from various opposition parties for allegedly sharing the video.
The summonses were issued to Telangana Chief minister Reddy and four Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) members under sections 91 and 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). According to police sources, individuals served notices under section 160/91 of the CrPC can either appear before the Investigating Officer or send a legal representative.
The Special Cell of the Delhi Police registered an FIR on Sunday following a complaint from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), about the doctored video of Shah. His statements indicating a commitment to abolish quota for Muslims in Telangana were altered to make it appear that he advocated scrapping all reservations.
Jharkhand Congress president Rajesh Thakur has also been summoned by the Delhi Police regarding the probe. Thakur expressed bewilderment, stating, “I received the notice from Delhi Police on Tuesday. But, it is beyond my understanding why the notice was served to me. This is nothing but anarchy.”
As of now, the Delhi Police has not received any response from X regarding reports on those IDs that shared the doctored video of Amit Shah, PTI reported.
