INDORE: Indore police on Friday registered a case against unidentified persons for spreading fake news about the death of
former Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan
.
A case under section 188 of IPC for violation of the order promulgated by the district magistrate was registered against the accused at the Sarafa police station, DIG Manish Kapooriya told TOI.
"We are trying to track down the accused who started the message which later went viral," said DIG Manish Kapooriya.
Sudhir Dedge, a former corporator had lodged a complaint with the police claiming that a fake message about Sumitra Mahajan's demise went viral on social media around 9pm on Thursday.
The message shocked the public and was aimed at instigating people, he alleged.
It is also a violation of the district magistrate’s order preventing the spread of fake news, Degde said.
Rumours of the former Lok Sabha Speaker’s death went viral on social media on Thursday night, but were quickly refuted by her staff.
Mandar Mahajan, her younger son, later came out with a video saying that Sumitra Mahajan was healthy and the rumours were incorrect.
“Please don’t believe the rumours. Her Covid-19 report is also negative. I met her in the evening. She is perfectly healthy,” he said.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor who had tweeted his condolences after the rumours retraced his statements saying that he was ‘appalled' at the fake news.
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