KOCHI: Police have started a probe after an unknown person circulated a fake statement that the recent flood in Dubai was a man-made disaster on social media platforms claiming that it was made by Opposition leader V D Satheesan.
Kerala Police’s cyber wing has registered a case and started a probe into the incident.
The fake statement came to the notice of the police a week ago after it was circulated by an X account- @n311yu.
“The accused edited the news report about Satheesan’s statement made after the 2018 Kerala flood blaming the state government. The edited headline read that Satheesan made a statement that the recent Dubai flood was a man-made disaster. Several persons, including Congress supporters, reported the fake statement on the X platform,” a police officer said.
The case was registered following a complaint filed by Satheesan’s private secretary K Anil Kumar to the state police chief. Police have charged offence of IPC Section 153 for provoking riot, and Kerala Police Act 120(o) for causing nuisance to public order.
“After several X users reported the fake post and police registered a case, the accused deleted his account. However, the investigation team has received screen grabs of the post from social media platforms. Police will approach X to trace the identity of the user. But it would be a time-consuming procedure,” a police officer said.
Across Kerala, as many as 98 cyber cases were registered for spreading fake messages through social media platforms during the election period in the state. A majority of cases were related to spreading fake messages regarding the authenticity of electronic voting machines and defaming political leaders and candidates.