Delhi Police to summon Telangana Congress members in Amit Shah's doctored video case

The Delhi Police will likely summon the members of the Telangana Congress for the second time over India's Union Home Minister Amit Shah's fake video case, said officials on Thursday (May 2).

The development comes after the four members of the Telangana Congress, who were asked to appear before the office of the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) on Wednesday (May 1), did not do so.

"We will again ask them to appear before the IO (investigating officer), as they did not come on Wednesday," an officer, privy to the investigation said.

The police had issued notices to Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and four Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) members -- Shiva Kumar Ambala, Asma Tasleem, Satish Manne and Naveen Pettem -- under sections 91 and 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

Reddy's attorney appeared before the court on Wednesday and affirmed that he was neither involved in tampering with the video nor in its circulation.

The police officials said that over 22 people from several political parties in various states including Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh were served notices in connection with the case and have been asked to appear before court on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Also read: Why is Indian PM Modi's photo missing from Covid vaccine certificates? Centre responds

Members of Congress IT cell arrested

The Telangana police officials on Thursday said that they had arrested five people from the Congress IT cell.

Earlier Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the state police had arrested an individual named Sri Reetom Singh in connection with the fake video case.

Taking to his official X handle Sarma said, "Assam police have arrested an individual named Sri Reetom  Singh in connection with the fake video involving Honorable Home Minister Sri Amit Shah."

The BJP had earlier alleged that the original footage of Shah had him talk about the removal of a 4 per cent "unconstitutional" reservation for Muslims in Telangana.

However, the saffron party said that the footage, which was from a recent election rally, was edited in a manner where it indicated that the Union Home Minister was advocating the move to scrap reservations for backward groups.

A case has been registered under Sections 153, 153A, 465, 469, 171G of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 66C of the Information Technology (IT) Act and a probe has been initiated, said the sources as per Indian news agencies.

"The video seems to be doctored, spreading misleading information with the intention of creating disharmony among communities which is likely to affect public tranquillity and public order issues. It is requested to kindly take necessary legal action as per the provisions of law," the ministry said, as per the FIR, reported IANS.

(With inputs from agencies)