Congress party’s Arun Reddy held over fake video of interior minister Amit Shah
By Agence France-Presse in Delhi
Indian police have said they have arrested the social media chief of the country’s main opposition party over a doctored video widely shared during the ongoing national election.
Arun Reddy of the Congress party was detained late on Friday in connection with the edited footage, which falsely shows India’s powerful interior minister, Amit Shah, vowing in a campaign speech to end affirmative action policies for millions of poor and low-caste Indians.
Congress spokesperson Shama Mohamed confirmed Reddy’s arrest but denied he was responsible for creating or publishing the clip. “He is not involved in any doctored video. We are supporting him,” she said.
Shah is often referred to as the second most powerful man in India after the prime minister, Narendra Modi, and the pair have been close political allies for decades.
Authorities seized Reddy’s electronic devices for forensic verification, the Indian Express newspaper reported on Saturday, quoting an unnamed police officer who accused Reddy of having “cropped and edited” the video.
The deputy commissioner of Delhi police, Hemant Tiwari, said Reddy “was arrested yesterday on investigation about … a doctored video of the home minister”. He added: “We produced him in the court and he is in police custody.”
This story was originally published in theguardian.com. Read the full story here.
