The Delhi Police's Special Cell teams visited the offices of Twitter India in Delhi and Gurgaon on Monday evening in connection with the probe into the alleged 'COVID toolkit' matter, PTI reported officials as saying. While initial reports said the police had raided the offices, however, Delhi Police officials said that it was a visit to serve notices and that it was wrong to call it a search.
Two teams of Special Cell were at the Twitter India offices located in Delhi's Lado Sarai and Gurgaon, on the outskirts of the national capital, a senior police officer said.
The move comes after the microblogging platform labelled a tweet by BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra as “manipulated media”, after he shared a document which he claimed was a toolkit used by the Indian National Congress to target the Modi government over its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
While Twitter said it “may label Tweets that include media (videos, audio and images) that have been deceptively altered or fabricated”, the Delhi Police said it “appears Twitter has some information which is not known to us on the basis of which they have classified [Patra’s tweet] as such.” “This information is relevant to the inquiry. The Special Cell, which is conducting the inquiry, wants to find out the truth. Twitter, which has claimed to know the underlying truth, should clarify," Delhi Police PRO Chinmoy Biswal had said.
The Congress denied ownership of the document and claimed the BJP was propagating a fake “toolkit” to defame it. The Chhattisgarh unit of the Congress' students wing NSUI , in turn, filed a police complaint against BJP leaders who tweeted the toolkit and attributed it to the Congress. They accused Patra and former chief minister Raman Singh of allegedly "forging" the letterhead of AICC Research Department and printing "false and fabricated" content on it. On the basis of the complaint, a case has been filed against Patra and Singh at the Civil Lines police station in Raipur.
On Sunday, Patra was summoned for questioning by the Raipur police, either in person or through video conference, but did not appear citing his being busy with “relief work” for the approaching Cyclone Yaas.
Police are serving notices, wrong to call it searches: Official
On May 21, the Special Cell had sent a notice to Twitter in connection with an inquiry into a complaint regarding the alleged "COVID-19 toolkit". In its notice, it said a preliminary inquiry is being conducted by the police and during the course of investigation it came to their knowledge that Twitter India is acquainted with the ''facts of the matter'' and ''are in possession of information with regard to the same.”
Sources in the Delhi police said Twitter (India) had not given a proper reply to the notice given by them and that is the reason the teams went to the Delhi office. The teams have gone to serve them another notice, said one official.
The police went to two places and put out notices. It will be wrong to call it searches, added the official.
The police asked the Managing director of Twitter India to be present in the office of the special cell with all relevant documents.
With inputs from Namrata Biji Ahuja, PTI
