SALEM: The City Police have warned strict action against those using fake 'Press' stickers to allegedly threaten traders and government officials for money.
For a hassle-free commute to the place of work, the State government has issued media stickers to all media persons with dailies, weekly and monthly magazines. The sticker, which will have details like vehicle number and the company name, will be pasted on the vehicles.
According to sources, although the district has only 100 reporters and photographers, over 500 vehicles, including two-wheelers, cars and minivans, were found to have media stickers. Some of them are misusing the identification to flout traffic norms and escape police net.
A case in point is the incident that happened a week ago in the district. A few YouTubers, having 'Press' stickers on their vehicles had been to the Collectorate to interview someone. When the area reporters asked, they had claimed themselves to be the representatives of online media.
Sources said that the same group had presented themselves for the farmers' grievance meeting, the Public Relations Officials stopped them. However, the Youtubers had reportedly picked up fights with both the officials and the media persons. Later, they were taken for an inquiry by the Town Police, who released them after warning, sources added.
Another case in point is an incident where a few persons, who claimed themselves to be reporters of vernacular dailies, had reportedly demanded 'bribe' from traders and government officials for Deepavali a week ago. The issue came to light after pictures of the 'fake' reporters were widely circulated on social media platforms.
Following this, the district reporters on Monday submitted a petition to the City Police Commissioner and sought action against the fake journalists. In his press release, the City Police Commissioner T Senthilkumar urged people to be cautious of fake journalists. "People should report about fake journalists to the City Police at 0427-2220200 and 0427-2210002. The journalists were also asked to use the 'Press' stickers issued only by the PRO office at the collectorate," the release said. Senthilkumar also assured to conduct special vehicular inspections from Tuesday to spot the culprits and take action against them.