Dehradun Police books social media user in Amit Shah ‘deepfake’ video case

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], May 2 (ANI): Authorities in Dehradun have launched an investigation into a fabricated video involving Union Home Minister Amit Shah that is being circulated on social media with the alleged intent to incite animosity between communities and influence the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, said an official.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dehradun Ajay Singh said that a social media handle named Urban Pahadi is responsible for distributing the misleading video. The clip, based on distorted facts, is believed to be aimed at creating discord among different groups and gaining an electoral advantage.

Upon discovering the video, the SSP alerted the district’s social media monitoring and cyber cell teams to identify and take action against the operator of the Urban Pahadi account.

During preliminary investigations, the Cyber Cell Dehradun determined that the misleading content had spread widely, prompting a formal complaint at Kotwali Nagar by Inspector Manoj Mainwal, the Cyber Cell’s in-charge.

Subsequently, a case has been registered against the operator of the Urban Pahadi social media account under crime number 221/24, invoking sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act, as well as sections 153A, 171F, 469, 505, and 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code. These charges relate to identity theft, impersonation, promoting enmity between groups, and disrupting electoral processes.

Earlier on Wednesday, Delhi Police showed dissatisfaction over Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s reply in connection to Amit Shah’s fake video case.

Earlier on May 2, a reply was filed by CM Telangana through his counsel. While speaking to ANI, Advocate Soumya Gupta said that she had received a notice under CrPC 91 in which it was asked from which source the video was.

“Our short reply was that it was not his account and the Twitter handle which he runs has been provided to them. Besides, it has also been written in the reply that the video was neither tweeted nor retweeted by the CM who runs the Twitter handle,” she added.

According to Delhi Police sources, the investigation is not satisfied with the reply given by CM Telangana.

Sources stated that if the video has been tweeted from the Twitter handle of INC Telangana, then the State President is also responsible for it, at present his lawyer is at the Delhi Police IFSO Unit.Sources further added that another notice can also be given to the CM soon. Apart from this, if Delhi Police is not satisfied with the answers given by CM Revanth Reddy in future, then strict action will be taken.

According to Delhi Police sources, the IFSO unit team of Delhi Police is also technically investigating this matter, Delhi Police aim to reach the person who edited Amit Shah’s video and made it viral first. The investigation conducted till now has found some leads that prove from where the video started going viral, however, work on those leads is ongoing.

Apart from this, Delhi Police is also continuously receiving replies from some other people to whom notices were sent. In this case, notices were sent to 20 to 25 people, whose replies the police were getting. Further investigation is underway. As per the Delhi police sources, the Delhi Police team is currently present in Telangana, action will be taken as soon as they get orders from the national capital.