About 1 lakh fake social media accounts created to defame Mumbai police

Mumbai police personnel outside the residence of Sushant Singh Rajput in Bandra. Pic/AFP

Targeted from various quarters after the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, the Mumbai Police has decided to take action against the invisible army of social media trolls on various platforms.

Cyber Cell Deputy Commissioner of Police Rashmi Karandikar said, "Several social media account holders are trolling the Mumbai Police commissioner on different platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. They are using abusive language against him and the Mumbai police force. Hence, an FIR has been registered against those account holders under Section 67 of the IT Act."

"Most of these accounts are fake and we will be taking action against all those fake account holders. Another FIR has been registered against a person who used morphed image of the official Twitter account of Mumbai Police commissioner recently. We have started the probe in both matters," Karandikar added.

The developments came around 110 days after Sushant's death, coinciding with the AIIMS report that ruled out speculation alleging the actor was murdered.

Our Investigation Was Professional, Truthful: Mumbai Top Cop After AIIMS Report On Sushant Death

The AIIMS report was widely welcomed by the Maharashtra government who decried the manner in which "the state government and Mumbai Police were sought to be maligned" in the matter.

"Truth has prevailed. Our investigation was very professional and truthful, and we were convinced that the actor committed suicide. The forensic reports also confirmed that there was no foul play. I welcome that our probe and the forensic reports were upheld by the premier national institute, AIIMS, as per the media reports. Our team of doctors from Cooper hospital and forensic experts also did a professional job," Param Bir Singh said.

Both the Mumbai police department and commissioner were accused of not handling Sushant's case properly and social media users accused it of hurriedly calling his death a suicide.

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Police sources said that there may be around 80,000-1,00,000 such 'fake accounts' created on various social media platforms after the actor's death on June 14 and some are allegedly being shut down now.

As per the Cyber Police's preliminary analysis, the slanderous or abusive posts were uploaded from India and even several countries in Europe, Scandinavia, south-east Asia and other global locations targeting the Mumbai Police.

Congress Spokesperson Sachin Sawant and Shiv Sena leader Kishore Tiwari have lauded the police initiative for probing the social media menace.

"I welcome the decision... Soon I will share very crucial information on this with the government on the social media accounts which were solely generated by the BJP IT Team to promote the 'conspiracy theory' in the Sushant Singh case and defame Maharashtra," Sawant said.

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Tiwari said the social media posts were "directly interfering" with the investigations of Mumbai Police, and later the CBI, ED and NCB, besides the country's judicial processes and the Cyber Police must act accordingly.

"There were blatantly fake expert opinions, imaginary scenarios concocted, and some television channels also promoted such frauds on their talk-shows... However, the Sushant Singh murder theory has fallen flat, while the so-called 'morgue visit' by Rhea Chakraborty has disappeared into thin air," Tiwari said.

The police are confident of making a few arrests in the cases which could attract jail sentence of up to five years.

(With inputs from Vishal Singh and IANS)

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