Sushant Singh Rajput case: Congress demands SIT probe into use of fake social media accounts

Maharashtra Congress has demanded a thorough probe into 80,000 fake accounts in the Sushant Singh Rajput case by a special investigation team (SIT) and alleged that

Maharashtra Congress has demanded a thorough probe into 80,000 fake accounts in the Sushant Singh Rajput case by a special investigation team (SIT) and alleged that it was a conspiracy hatched by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Congress on Wednesday handed over documents, claiming those were proof of a large number of fake social media accounts used to create suspicion around Rajput’s death case, to Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

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After meeting Singh, state Congress general secretary and spokesperson Sachin Sawant said the attempt by the BJP to defame the Mumbai Police and Maharashtra government was a conspiracy against the democracy and it was nothing less than an act of ‘neo-terrorism’. “Nearly 80,000 fake accounts were created overnight to defame Mumbai Police and Maharashtra government by spreading lies and suspicion in SSR case. This is a new trend of maligning the image of other parties by using fake accounts and spreading lies. Mumbai Police should investigate this case by constituting an SIT,” he said.

BJP has, however, said that the allegations were levelled by the ruling parties to divert the attention from their failures in handling the Covid-19 pandemic and other crises in the state.

Sawant said they have handed over data collated from social media platforms with names of the companies and the fake and original accounts created by them. Sawant said the commissioner assured them about investing the matter. “Some of the twitter handles had sent out 40,000 tweets in the last three months, while some of them tweeted at the rate of 25 tweets a minute. The tweets were on SSR case and were posted with related hashtags. It was a planned and strategic conspiracy against the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government by hiring professional agencies. Similar modus operandi was used by the saffron party after Palghar mob lynching case and Delhi riots. There is possibility of use of similar pattern in future too, if not restricted at appropriate time,” he said.

BJP leader Atul Bhatkhalkar said, “The allegations are nothing but an attempt by the ruling parties to divert attention from its failure on various fronts. We are not against any probe. The police should go ahead and book the culprits involved in such activities. At the same time, home minister Anil Deshmukh and the MVA government should tell us about the status in the inquiries announced by them in the past. What happened to the probe in phone tapping case? What is the status of the probe announced by Anil Dehsmukh against Kangana Ranaut in drug dealing case? Why she was allowed to go back to Himachal Pradesh without any probe? If the Congress is talking about Palghar lynching, it should first answer why charge sheet was not filed within stipulated time and why police let the accused get bail due to inept handling of the case.”