Complaint against FB user for fake news on KCR's death due to Covid-19

Hyderabad: TRS youth wing workers from Bowenpally, Secunderabad, lodged a complaint against a Facebook post with the Bowenpally police station. They sought action against the Facebook user Panyala Raju for allegedly spreading fake news about Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao’s death.

Raju posted on his Facebook page that the Chief Minister died of Coronavirus and that he had contracted the virus through his nose, as confirmed by the doctors at Gandhi Hospital. The party workers demanded that a case be registered on charges of spreading fake news, and also hurting the sentiments of the people of the state.

The post had soon gone viral. While a majority of the internet users rubbished it as fake news, some expressed shock, thinking it was genuine information.

The TRS party workers immediately reported the matter to the police who launched an inquiry into the post and also began verifying the details of the Facebook user Panyala Raju.

As per the guidelines, cases can be registered against any person spreading fake news related to Coronavirus under the National Disaster Management Act. Since lockdown came into force, more than 100 cases were registered across Telangana for spreading fake news related to the virus.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister is in good health and he also convened a review meeting at Pragati Bhavan on Monday evening. He is going to review the measures taken for containment of Coronavirus, implementation of the lockdown and other related issues. The medical and health minister and other senior officials from other government departments will also participate in the meeting.