Team Herald
PANJIM: In a late night development, the Crime Branch (CB) sleuths arrested Vasco-based Kenneth Silveira for allegedly spreading false news about Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s health.
Silveira, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2017 elections against Parrikar from Panjim constituency, had allegedly posted the wrong and misleading information about CM’s health on his Facebook account on Wednesday. stating that the worst had happened.
(According to an agency report, carried on the NDTV website, Silveira’s post, on Facebook on Tuesday, read: “Just got news that Parrikar is no more”.
The report stated that ‘In subsequent messages on his Facebook wall, Silveira accepted that his message was incorrect after other commentators on his wall informed him of the folly, but did not delete the fake message from his wall.Incidentally, one of the messages on Silveira’s Facebook wall is from the Officer on Special Duty to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, Rupesh Kamat, who in a cryptic text earlier in the day said: “Time to go in”.)
“He has been arrested under Section 505 (circulating messages to cause public harm) of the Indian Penal Code and will be produced before a magistrate tomorrow (Thursday),” Superintendent of Police (Crime Branch) Karthik Kashyap told reporters in Panjim.
“We will question him on what basis he posted the wrong information about CM’s health. It will created panic among the people. Spreading false news is a crime,” said an officer.
The FB user had posted the wrong news in the evening prompting CB to take quick action in a bid to avoid panic in the State. While further details were unavailable as police formalities were still underway, sources said he has been booked under Section 505 (statement conducing to public mischief) of IPC. He will be produced before magistrate on Thursday for remand.
Parrikar is presently in US undergoing treatment His third phase of treatment will begin on Monday. He has been regularly taking stock of the State administration and had telephonically spoken to his cabinet colleagues on Tuesday.
