The special cell of Delhi Police has served a notice on Telangana CM Revanth Reddy in connection with its investigation over the circulation of a doctored video of Union home minister Amit Shah that was shared on social media handles of Telangana Congress.
Reddy has been asked to come to Delhi on May 1 with his mobile phone and join the probe. Failure to comply with the summons will attract penal/ coercive criminal proceedings, the notice adds. Delhi Police teams are camping in Hyderabad and other places and are in the process of sending out notices to at least six more people. Those already served notices are Satish Manne, Telangana Congress chairman (social media); state Congress secretary Shivakumar Ambala; and Asma Tasleem, TPCC spokesperson, sources said.
On Sunday, police registered an FIR after its special cell’s cyber unit received a complaint from Union home ministry.
Forming a team of Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Ops (IFSO) unit, cops are trying to ascertain the identity of the accounts that uploaded the “deepfake” video in which Shah is purportedly heard saying that all reservations, including of SCs and STs, will be scrapped.
Cops have also written to ‘X’ and other social media platforms seeking details of the video as they look for the originator and the individual who made this clip go viral, the sources added.
In the FIR lodged by them, police have invoked IPC sections pertaining to forgery, provocation for rioting and promoting enmity between different groups besides section 66-C of the Information Technology Act.
Earlier, Delhi Police brass assembled to review the case. Another team landed in Hyderabad at noon and visited Gandhi Bhavan (Telangana Congress headquarters) and served the notice under Section 91/160 of CrPC.
