Journalist arrested for circulating fake news, morphed photo of Karnataka CM

Bengaluru: A journalist of a web portal and another person have been arrested here for allegedly circulating fake news and a morphed photo of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and a Kannada actress, police said Friday.

A Gangadhar, owner of UKSuddi.in, and Ajith Shetty Heranje, a BJP sympathiser, were arrested Thursday, a police officer at the High Grounds police station said. A case was registered against them under various IPC sections, including 468 (forgery), 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman).

Gangadhar had allegedly published the morphed image on his website which Heranje reportedly picked up and circulated through a social networking site, the official said. Police said the action was taken based on a complaint by the chief minister's media secretary H B Dinesh.

In his complaint, Dinesh said a news portal had put out a report on April 22 under the title 'Chief Minister goes for naturopathy for two days'. Two days later, UKSuddi.in published a fake news report using the morphed image of the chief minister and Kannada film actress Radhika, the complaint said.

Heranje had taken a screenshot of the report and posted it on his Facebook page, Dinesh alleged. By their actions, they had defamed the chief minister, Dinesh said in his complaint.

Meanwhile, journalist Hemanth Kumar, who was arrested last week, has been released on bail, BJP sources said.

A case was registered against Kumar for allegedly circulating on social media a 'fake letter' purportedly written by state Home minister M B Patil to Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi in 2017 on religion tag to the Lingayat sect.