Bangla scribe, Indian woman booked over fake news on Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi

An FIR has been registered by the Bengaluru Police against a Bangladeshi journalist and a woman staffer of an Indian news portal for allegedly spreading fake news and misinformation about leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi, both senior Congress leaders.

The case was registered at the High Grounds police station against the journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhaury and Aditi - working with the news portal, for sharing his claims on its social media handle, they said.

According to the complainant Srinivas G, associated with the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), the Bangladeshi journalist allegedly shared a post on his X handle linking Sonia Gandhi to a foreign spy agency.

He alleged Choudhary did so with an intention to malign the public image of the Gandhi family and that the journalist had shared such a post to create enmity between two religions.

Srinivas charged Choudhury with having made certain claims about Rahul Gandhi.

"Based on the complaint we received, we have filed an FIR against the two for allegedly spreading misinformation about the Gandhi family. Case has been registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita section 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony and 353 (2) (publishing or circulating false information to create hatred on the basis of religion etc)," a senior police officer said.

An investigation is underway and accordingly action will be taken in the case, he said.