FIR against Digvijay Singh for sharing edited video of CM Chouhan, MP Congress alleges foul play

A day after Madhya Pradesh police booked former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh for allegedly sharing an edited video of an old statement made by CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the state Congress released a number of old tweets made by Chouhan, claiming that they were fake and misleading, and demanded action against him.

Media in-charge of state Congress Narendra Saluja alleged that when Chouhan was in Opposition, he often posted tweets containing fake information and peddled fake news just to target the government, but the Congress never took action against him.

“There are more than half a dozen tweets of CM Chouhan which turned out to be fake when he was in Opposition, but framing veteran leader Digvijay Singh just for sharing a video is a wrong move. The police should find the real culprit,” Saluja said.

Veteran Congress leader Digvijay Singh had on Sunday tweeted a nine seconds long video of CM Chouhan on his Twitter handle which was part of an old statement made by Chouhan on the liquor policy of the previous Kamal Nath government. The video went viral in no time and soon afterwards, the BJP reported the matter to police and demanded action.

The Bhopal Crime Branch has booked Digvijay Singh and 10 others in a case of circulation of an alleged 'edited' video. They have been charged under sections 500 (defamation), 501 (printing and engraving matter known to be defamatory), 506 (2) (public mischief) and 465 (forgery) of the Indian Penal Code, the police said. The following day, the Crime Branch constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to look into the matter.

Additional SP Nischal Jharia informed that an FIR was registered against Singh and others on Sunday night after the complaint received from the BJP leaders was found to be "right" in preliminary investigation. "Further action would be taken after the investigation,” he said.

He further added that an investigation team has been formed, and it is preparing the framework to investigate the case. The account details of the accused, the tweets and re-tweets, origin of the video and many other things will be looked into during the investigation, he said. This will be handled by the Cyber Crime section, he added.

Reacting to the development, Digvijay Singh said that he has no objection to the FIR against him, but the police should also investigate the source of the video and who "edited" It. “CM Chouhan is unhappy with me since I have raised the issue of Rs 4.5 crore chit fund corruption case relating to tribals in his home seat Budhni. I have demanded an FIR in this matter and threatened to go on a hunger strike. He is framing me to quell my voice,” Singh told media persons on Monday.

“If the BJP is targeting me just for tweeting the edited video, then the BJP leaders have expertise in it. They tweet fake and edited tweets and videos of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi every day, just to tarnish his image. Will police take any action against them?” he asked.

Former chief minister Kamal Nath has also come to Singh’s rescue. “Governments may come and go but the BJP is setting a wrong precedence,” Nath said, adding that the BJP leaders are trying to tarnish the image of the Congress leaders through “dirty politics”.

Action should have been taken against the person concerned for editing the video clip, Nath said.