SILCHAR: A Congress party member has been arrested from Guwahati in connection with a doctored video of Union home minister Amit Shah circulated on social media, people familiar with the matter said.
Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced the arrest on X, formerly Twitter. “Assam police have arrested an individual named Sri Reetom Singh in connection with the fake video involving Honorable Home Minister Sri Amit Shah,” Sarma said in a post on X at about 4pm.
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A police officer later said the suspect, Reetam Singh (31) was a resident of Guwahati’s Khanapara area and a member of the Congress party.
Assam Police chief public relations officer Pranabjyoti Goswami said in a statement that a case was registered at Panbazar police station based on a complaint regarding the circulation of a “distorted and motivated” post on X about Shah.
Assam Congress’s media cell president, Debabrata Borah demanded the immediate release of Reetom Singh. “Each and every citizen of this country has the right to question the activities and decisions of the government. Arresting a Congress party member during the election by using police is against the democratic structure of India. We demand immediate release of Reetam Singh,” he said.
A police officer said the doctored video manipulated a clip of Amit Shah’s speech in which he spoke against reservation for Muslims in Telangana to give an impression that the home minister was promising to end reservation for the backward classes.
The fake video prompted the police in several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled states to register a first information report.
In Delhi, the Delhi Police’s special cell has also summoned five members of the Telangana Congress, including Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy who posted the video on X. Reddy later hit back, declaring at a Congress rally at Sedam in Karnataka, that “no one here is afraid” of such notices and alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was now using Delhi Police to win elections.
The BJP has also lodged a complaint with the Election Commission, accusing the Congress of circulating what it described was a “deep fake and morphed” video of Shah aimed at derailing the poll process.
The Assam police said Reetam Singh was arrested on Monday afternoon. Two phones and a laptop allegedly used to edit the video and to circulate it have also been seized.
Police said that a case has been registered under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth), 171G (making or publishing false statements in relation to the personal character or conduct of any candidate with intent to affect the result of the election) 505(1)(b) (making, publishing or circulating any statement, rumour which is likely to incite, any class or community of persons to commit any offence against any other class or community) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 66F of the Information Technology (IT) Act.
