The Delhi police, on the 2nd of March, arrested a 24 year old man for spreading fake news about the Delhi riots in West Delhi area.
The arrested man was identified as Abhishek Shukla, a resident of Nihal Vihar, West Delhi.
Abhishek Shukla, has more than 10,000 followers on various social media platforms, and was alleged to have spread rumours about the riots, creating panic like situations amongst the public and the police.
A senior police officer of the Delhi police said, “The Cyber Crime Cell of Delhi Police arrested Shukla for spreading rumours about riots in Nihal Vihar. He has over 10,000 followers on social media, and was using that particular platform to spread rumours.”
The officer further added, his mobile was recovered as evidence, which consisted several videos and media posts, shared from his official social media handles.
According to the Delhi police, they received nearly 1,880 calls related to riots from people who were in a panic due to these false social media platforms posts.
The Delhi police in a statement said, out of 1,880, calls to the police control room (PCR) 481 were from West Delhi, 413 from South East Delhi, 310 from Dwarka and 127 from South Delhi and remaining from other regions of Delhi.
While the majority of calls were false alarms of riots in Delhi, only two calls from Northeast Delhi were true, where communal riots broke out.
In the Northeast Delhi riots, approximately 43 people lost their lives and more than 200 were left injured.
