BENGALURU: Misleading news from some news outlets claiming that the first woman DG&IGP of Karnataka, Neelamani Raju, had been transferred by the government has gone viral on popular social media platforms. However, the state government has denied this with Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy stating that he has not taken any administrative decision prior to the floor test which was held on Friday.
The fake news was being spread on social media by some news websites.
As per the report, the government was unhappy with Raju over the incident related to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during the swearing-in ceremony of Kumaraswamy. During the event, Mamata had to walk from near General Post Office to Vidhana Soudha and had pulled up the DG&IGP for not allowing her vehicle close to Vidhana Soudha. Kumaraswamy had also summoned Raju the following day and had sought an explanation over the same.
Following the incident, reports of Raju’s ouster was quickly spread on May 24 and started trickling into the feeds of social media users. The report on a news website was shared more than 19,000 times before the website clarified that the transfer was withheld after ‘outrage’. A meme regarding the issue on the Facebook page of the portal was shared close to 5,000 times, as on Friday evening.
However, the state government and sources in DG&IGP’s office have dismissed the reports. Kumaraswamy, who was alleged to have transferred the official, said he had taken no administrative decision before the floor test on Friday. Sources in the DG&IGP office have also dismissed the issue, saying that the Home Department had issued no such orders yet.