Karnataka police propose dropping misinformation case against postcard news owner

Karnataka police have recommended closing the case against Postcard News owner Mahesh Vikram Hegde for misinformation and disharmony among communities.

Karnataka police have proposed to withdraw the case against the postcard news owner Mahesh Vikram Hegde for misinformation and creating disharmony among communities. The police who have already filed a ‘C’ report (closure report) in the case, citing a lack of evidence, have written to the home department with a recommendation for the closure, according to senior officers in the know of the development.

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A senior officer, on condition of anonymity said that during the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime’s time, a closure report was filed in the case on April 8, 2021, and the court accepted the closure report on October 29, 2021. “The C report was filed by the investigating officer in the case citing a lack of evidence or non-availability of the accused,” said the officer.

Following this, on October 1, this year, a report was submitted to home minister G Parameswara’s office recommending a withdrawal of the case since a C report has been filed.

Records released by a Kannada website the file show that the Karwar police inspector, on October 1 expressed no objections to withdrawing the case pending court approval of the final report.

The case in reference was filed on December 12, 2017, regarding the death of 17-year-old Paresh Mesta. Mesta’s body was recovered from a pond “under mysterious circumstances” in Honnavar in Karnataka’s Uttara Kannada district on December 6, 2017, soon after which communal riots broke out in the area.

An article published in Postcard News titled “Islamic State (IS) brutality followed to murder Paresh Mesta, but who gave instruction to prove it as natural death” was the heart of the misinformation regarding the case. Following this, Honnavar tehsildar, Govinda Nayak filed a first information report (FIR) against Mahesh Vikram Hegde and Viveka Shetty, alleging that a news article published on the Postcard News website regarding the death of Paresh Mesta, not only incited communal violence but also promoted hatred against the Muslim community, threatened public harmony, and conveyed a provocative false message.

The then-chief minister Siddaramaiah transferred the case to the CBI. The CBI filed a closure report in connection with Mesta’s death five years after the incident in 2022.

“During the investigation, no incriminating evidence has emerged showing the involvement of accused persons and the medico-legal evidence/opinion collected from multiple institutions clearly established the cause of death of Paresh Mesta as anti-mortem drowning. Accordingly, a final report (closure report) is being filed before the jurisdictional court,” CBI wrote in a letter to the family.

The investigation report against the Postcard article, attached to the report submitted to the home department, read that the investigators, who initiated the inquiry based on this complaint, found that there was insufficient information to identify the source of the message published on the Postcard News website.

In connection with this case, officials from the Bangalore cyber police station seized a SIM card and a mobile phone. However, the items were not sent for forensic analysis, and the investigation was halted due to a restraining order issued by the high court, read the report.

The report indicates that investigators contacted godaddy.com and the general inquiry and complaint department concerning the Postcard News website, which was used by Mahesh Vikram Hegde to disseminate provocative messages, however, there were no leads from this investigation as well.

“Since the investigation conducted in the said case did not lead to the discovery of the accused, the CJM considered the case as an urgent disappearance and submitted the ‘C’ final report to the court on April 8, 2021,” read the report.

The senior officer cited above said that the report for withdrawal of the case is still pending before the home minister’s office.

Home Minister G Parameshwara didn’t respond to the calls for a reaction.