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Pune police act against coronavirus-related rumour mongering on WhatsApp
The complaint in the matter was lodged by Divisional Commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar, according to the police.
The Pune police have registered a case against an unidentified person for spreading rumours related to coronavirus through the social media platform WhatsApp.
Police inspector (crime) Ganesh Mane said a case was registered on Sunday night at Koregaon Park police station under Indian Penal Code sections which included 182 (false information), 290 (punishment for public nuisance), along with sections 51(b) and 54 of Disaster Management Act, 2005.
The complaint was lodged by Divisional Commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar, according to the police.
“The divisional commissioner got a text on WhatsApp that there were people travelling from other countries at two hotels in our jurisdiction. The message suggested that the people at hotels were infected with the virus. The government machinery was deployed to check the places and they found nothing of the sort had happened,” said Mane.
The police are looking for the source of the circulated message.
This is the first such case in Maharashtra, according to Mhaisekar.
“The divisional commissioner informed DCP Mitesh Ghatte (special branch) and the police, along with revenue officials, went to hotels to confirm the information,” said senior inspector Pramod Patki of Koregaon Park police station.
The series of events took place between 9:40pm and 10pm on Saturday and a case was registered at Bundgarden police station before being transferred to Koregaon Park police station.
“We are not revealing much about the procedure that we followed but it should suffice to know that the contents of the message were confirmed. Someone else should not learn from this and device another way of misleading the authorities,” said DCP Ghatte.
