Special court directs Bengaluru police to book case against Shivakumar

A special court here has directed the city police to book a criminal case against Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar along with the Congress State IT cell head B R Naidu for allegedly using a morphed image of a protest by BJP leaders.

The BJP leaders had participated in a demonstration against the recent arrest of Srikanth Pujari, a Kar Sevak, who had taken part in the 1992 Babri mosque demolition agitation.

The BJP demonstrators held placards which read: "I'm also a Kar Sevak, arrest me too."

The Congress IT Cell allegedly morphed the writing on the placards making it look like a confessional statement of scams and other irregularities and posted them on social media. The same was shared from the social media handle of Shivakumar, also the Karnataka Congress chief.

The BJP Legal Cell state convener Yogendra Hodaghatta lodged a complaint with the Special Court for MPs/MLAs stating that the post used a false document to create enmity between communities.

The court directed the station house officer of the High Grounds police station to book a case under Section 156(3) of the CrPC.