BENGALURU: In this election season, memes of politicians on social media are not uncommon. But crossing the line has its consequences, as two people found out. The High Grounds police on Friday arrested Gangadhar Amalajeri (30), a native of Rabakavi in Bagalakot district, and Ajith Shetty Haranje (40) of Bramhavara in Udupi, for morphing photos of CM H D Kumaraswamy and actress Radhika and spreading fake news on social media and a news portal claiming they were visiting a resort in Udupi.
A senior police officer said a case was filed on Wednesday when the morphed photos went viral on social media after the portal uksuddi.in published it. The media secretary in the CMO, who noticed the fake news, approached the police and filed a complaint.
Preliminary investigation revealed that Gangadhar, who works in an MNC and also runs the news portal, had downloaded old photos of the CM and the actress and morphed them to make it seem that they were entering a resort. The duo had also claimed the CM had scolded the scribes who had taken the photos. A day later, Shetty posted the fake news on his Facebook page and tagged his friends, police said.
During the probe, Gangadhar said he posted it so that his portal would be popularised. Shetty, who owns a garment business, wanted to damage the CM’s image. He has put up several posts on Facebook against the present government, police said.