MANGALURU: The Mangaluru City Police have registered three separate cases for the circulation of fake and inflammatory content on social media, allegedly shared to incite unrest following the recent mob lynching incident in Kudupu.
Mangaluru City Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal said false and misleading information related to the murder of a daily wage labourer near Kudupu has been found circulating on social media.
"With the intent to create unrest and disrupt communal harmony, certain individuals and groups have spread fake news and provocative content. We have registered a case at Konaje Police Station under Sections 192, 353(1), 353(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 against a misleading post in the WhatsApp group ‘BEARY MUSLIM ARMY’ falsely claiming that the murder weapon (bat stump) used in the Kudupu incident had been recovered and the post also questioned who was behind the crime," Agrawal stated in a press communiqué.
Another case has been registered at Barke Police Station under Section 353(2) of the BNS, 2023, against false information uploaded on the Instagram page “beary-royal-nawab”, which allegedly aimed to mislead the public.
The third case was filed at Kankanady Town Police Station under Section 353(1)(b) of the BNS, 2023, against fake and inflammatory content circulated in a WhatsApp group titled “Maikallo Beary”. Zakir Hussain, a resident of Munnur village in Ullal Taluk, has been identified as the individual responsible.
“Mangaluru City Police is committed to ensuring peace and harmony in the city and will take strict action against those spreading misinformation or attempting to disturb public order through social media,” the commissioner added.