The Nagpur Police have registered a sedition case against Fahim Khan, the mastermind of the March 17 violence, and five others.
Khan has already been arrested and the court has sent him to judicial custody till March 20. The Nagpur Cyber Crime Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Lohit Matani said, “A case of sedition has been registered against six persons, including Fahim Khan. Some people supported the violence against the police and praised it. The number may increase further. Some comments were made while supporting this attack, which further fuelled the riots. A case of sedition has been registered against the people who made such comments.“
He said that more than 300 social media accounts have been investigated in connection with the riots that broke out in Nagpur. Out of these, 140 accounts have been found to have objectionable posts and videos. He added that the process of registering a case against all of them is underway.
The DCP said the objectionable content was circulated from an account outside Nagpur. “Support for the riots has been expressed through some posts. This account is being investigated and it is also being looked into if they are from outside the country. Along with this, the social media account of the main accused, Fahim Khan, has also been investigated. Objectionable content was found on his account and the cyber department has registered a case in this regard also,” he added.
He said that the police are probing to find out the Bangladesh angle to the Nagpur violence. “Just because someone wrote Bangladesh in a post does not mean that it is linked to Bangladesh. A thorough investigation will have to be done for that,” he remarked.
He also said that four FIRs have been filed so far in the Nagpur riots case, containing more than 50 allegations. More FIRs will be filed.
Earlier, the office of the Additional Director General of Police, Maharashtra State Cyber Department a media release issued on Wednesday night said more than 140 instances of objectionable content across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube have been identified and reported. In response, notices under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 have been issued to facilitate the immediate takedown of such content. Additionally, notices under Section 94 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 have been issued to uncover the real identities of the individuals operating these accounts.
Strict legal action will be taken against those responsible for spreading such provocative content, he said.
