HYDERABAD: People in Telangana can now breathe easy. The news circulating on visual and social media that a number of girls and women are going missing in the State has been proved fake. The police, who investigated the rumours, swooped on three purveyors of fake news. They included a content developer and designer. The cyber crime police made the arrests.
Those arrested were Venkat Grijala, of Mothi Nagar, Kranthi Kiran Naidu, a designer and resident of Krishna Nagar, Yousufguda, and Balaraju, a content developer from Mahbubnagar district.
The news, which spread like wildfire across the State, cast a shadow on the Telangana government as the reports claimed hundreds of girls and women had gone missing over the last year.
The issue took a political turn with the BJP pouncing on the State government over the disturbing development. BJP State president K Laxman said the disappearance of the girls showed that KCR was sleeping when security of women was taking a beating.
According to the police, on June 12, the cyber crime police registered a suo-motu case, after posts on social media about missing women and girls went viral.
The posts said nearly 82 people went missing in Telangana within just 24 hours on June 8. The posts were uploaded by the Telangana Yuva Sainyam, who attributed the disappearance of the girls to a ring which specialised in kidnapping girls and women.
The police said they arrested the three persons to prevent bruiting of rumours in future. They requested the public not to believe such rumours, and if they receive such forwards, they should delete them immediately. Forwarding fake posts not only disturbs peace in society but also makes one liable for punishment.