A message on social media with a photograph that purportedly shows two men — one resembling state chief secretary Rajiva Sinha and the other, chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s brother Kartick Banerjee — sharing drinks is fake, police have said.
The police have started a case against Union minister Babul Supriyo for sharing the message on his Twitter handle @SuPriyoBabul.
On Sunday, the official Twitter handle of the deputy commissioner, south, declared the message as “fake”.
“We have prima facie evidence to suggest that the information shared in the message is fake. We have drawn up a case against Babul Supriyo and others,” an officer said.
Babul Supriyo, the Union minister of state for environment, forest and climate, had apparently tweeted a photograph on May 9 and written: “Can you identify the ‘characters’ in this super-viral picture?”
Sometime later, he retweeted the photograph. “Its Honble WBCM @MamataOfficial's brother Kartick Banerjee with the Current Chief Secretary of Bengal Rajiva Sinha! The drinks r fine but this viral photo does raise many questions given who they are!! THIS sure IS NOT A NORMAL PIX,” the minister had written in his second tweet.
A case had been started at Kalighat police station based on a complaint lodged by a Trinamul Congress supporter, the police said.
The police, however, did not clarify which part of the message on social media — the photograph or the information revealing the identity of the men in the photograph or the fact that the photograph was viral on social media — was fake.
A few hours after the police declared the message as fake, the minister said in a tweet, while replying to another tweet that said he was a responsible central government minister and should not share fake messages, “I am not here to do dirty politics but at least three credible journo shared the pic with me that had already gone viral & I had just asked the question IF what we see is true. And u see the unholy nexus of Didi’s Police @aitc Neta’s R well-documented.”
Metro could not contact the minister. Late in the evening, his aide asked Metro to send a message and said that the minister would revert. There was no reply till late at night.
Consuming alcohol is not illegal in India. Among the businesses the Centre has permitted to open despite the lockdown are liquor stores.
A case has been started against the minister and others under various IPC sections (promoting enmity between various groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language; doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony and making, publishing or circulating any statement, rumour or report with the intent to cause or likely to cause fear or alarm to public or any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the state or against the public tranquility).
The police will question 'all parties concerned' before divulging details. The minister could be summoned for interrogation, the police said.
Investigating officers have contacted Facebook and Twitter to find out who had posted the photograph first. The photograph will be sent for forensic examination to determine its authenticity, the police said.
