Karnataka High Court quashes FIR against Arnab Goswami in ‘fake news’ case
Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Thursday quashed an FIR against Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami over allegations of airing fake news about Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The Bengaluru police had booked Goswami and R Kannada editor Niranjan J in March 2024 under s. 505(2) of the IPC for allegedly promoting enmity through false statements.
The case was based on a complaint by Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee member Ravindra MV, who alleged that Republic Kannada aired a report on March 27, 2024, claiming Siddaramaiah’s convoy had blocked traffic and obstructed an ambulance on MG Road in Bengaluru. The complainant stated that the chief minister was in Mysuru at the time, making the report false.
During the hearing, Justice M Nagaprasanna questioned the validity of the FIR, stating there was "absolutely nothing, abuse on its face." Goswami’s counsel, senior advocate Aruna Shyam, informed the court that the video in question was deleted within 24 hours of its broadcast.
The High Court had earlier placed an interim stay on investigations in December 2024, observing, “What has Arnab Goswami done? There is a plethora of things brought out by him. It might have proved good for some and bad for others, but where is the case of inciting?”
With the latest order, the FIR stands quashed, bringing the case to a close.
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Gurugram Police arrest BJP Yuva Morcha member for spreading fake murder story on social media
New Delhi: Gurugram Police have arrested BJP Yuva Morcha member Hariom Mishra, for allegedly spreading a fabricated and communally sensitive story on social media about the murder of a college student in Gurugram.
Mishra who is also known as Shaurya Mishra had shared a collage of four photographs on his X handle earlier this month. He claimed that a 24-year-old college student, identified as Nikita Agarwal, had been murdered by her classmate Arif Khan in Gurugram. In the post, he alleged that the woman was blackmailed, forced into prostitution, gangraped, and eventually killed. He also claimed that Arif dumped her body in a forest. The claims were presented as being based on police sources.
The post went viral and garnering over 1.5 lakh views, and was amplified by several right-wing social media handles across X, Facebook and Instagram. A verification of the claims revealed that no such incident had taken place in Gurugram. A search of credible news reports showed no record of any such murder. The police said this news would have inevitably attracted media attention if it were true.
On December 11, Gurugram Police publicly refuted the claims through their official X handle. They stated that the information which was being circulated was completely false. The police warned that legal action would be taken against those spreading misinformation. Despite the warning, Mishra neither deleted the post nor issued any clarification.
Police in Gurugram confirmed Mishra's arrest on December 16. The police said a FIR was filed after he continued to spread false information about the alleged murder of a Hindu woman by Muslim man. Police said Mishra, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district, is now being investigated.
Gurugram Police spokesperson Sandeep Singh told The Print that the accused had deliberately misrepresented facts and used objectionable content to spread hatred along religious lines. “Such posts can create serious disturbances in society, and the police take these matters very seriously,” he said.
A reverse image search conducted by fact-checkers at Alt News, revealed that the photographs used in the viral post were unrelated to the claims, while two of the images were traced to a Pinterest account belonging to influencer Maulik Chopra and another image was sourced from an Instagram post by influencer Shivam Thakur featuring a woman named Deepanshi Rawat. The fourth image was found on an unrelated Instagram page. The images depicted different individuals and had no connection to any crime.
Police said they are also investigating Mishra’s motive behind sharing the false and provocative content.
