New York, Nov 27 : Neeraj Arora, WhatsApp's chief business officer, said he is leaving the popular messaging service, joining a stream of top executives who have departed Facebook and its group companies in the past year.

Arora, an IIT- Delhi alumnus and the number four in the company, was being touted to take over as WhatsApp CEO earlier this year however the role of global head of the company was given to Chris Daniels.

Arora had been with WhatsApp since 2011 and through Facebook's USD 19 billion acquisition of the messaging company in 2014. His exit comes seven months after WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum left the company.

"It is hard to believe that it has been seven years since Jan (Koum) and Brian (Acton) got me onboard at WhatsApp, and it has been one hell of a ride! It is time to move on, but I cannot be more proud of how WhatsApp continues to touch people in so many different ways every day," Arora said in a Facebook post on Monday.

"I am confident that WhatsApp will continue to be the simple, secure and trusted communication product for years to come," he wrote.

Arora's departure comes at a challenging time for WhatsApp, which has been dealing with the growing international problem of users spreading misinformation to large groups of people on the. This year WhatsApp deployed campaigns in top markets like India and Brazil to educate users and help them avoid sending around false information, CNBC said.

In addition to the recent departure of top WhatsApp executives, Facebook has also lost Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe in recent months. Alex Stamos, who was Facebook's chief security officer, left in August.

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Bengaluru (PTI): Buoyed by the assembly election by-polls, which saw the ruling Congress sweeping in all the three seats, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said he won in the ‘people’s court’.

He gave credit to the guarantee schemes for the party’s victory in the assembly bypolls in Sandur, Shiggaon and Channapatna.

“You know what Mahatma Gandhi said. He said people’s court is better than the courts. Now people’s court has given me its verdict,” Siddaramaiah told reporters.

This victory was significant for the Congress as the BJP and JD(S) formed an alliance, he explained.

“We won from Kalyana Karnataka (Sandur), Kittur Karnataka region (Shiggaon), and old Mysuru region (Channapatna). In all the places we won. So, this is very significant."

“After our government came to power about one and half years ago, the BJP made false allegations on me and my government. They also spread lies about our schemes,” Siddaramaiah said.

The CM is an accused in the MUDA site allotment scam where 14 sites in upmarket of Mysuru was allotted to his wife, Parvathi. After the controversy broke out, Parvathi returned the sites to MUDA.

He also came down heavily on the opposition BJP and JD(S) for their lies and ‘baseless allegations’.

The Chief Minister also took a swipe at JDS supremo H D Deve Gowda and his son Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy for "crying" in public during elections.

“Deve Gowda and his sons cry, but didn’t their heart melt when several women cried in the Prajwal Revanna case in Hassan?” he asked.

Former JD(S) MP and grandson of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, Prajwal Revanna is in jail for allegedly sexually assaulting several women and filming them.