Gautam Buddha Nagar District Magistrate Manish Verma clarified that his official X handle was hacked after a controversy erupted over his post on the social media platform that referred to Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi as "Pappu".
Verma approached the police and an FIR was filed at Sector 20 police station in Noida. The IAS officer also informed the people about the hacking incident through his official X account.
"Some anti-social element has misused the ID of DM Gautam Buddha Nagar and posted a wrong comment. Taking it seriously, legal action is being taken by registering an FIR immediately, and the wrong tweet/comment is being investigated by the cyber cell," he wrote in a post in Hindi.
Congress Demands Action
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said this is not a new development. "Over the last 10 years, India's bureaucracy and other non-political officials have become increasingly politicised. There is a lot of effort being made to suppress and render useless the civil service, which Sardar Patel once called the steel frame of India. Cases like this are the latest example of that effort," Ramesh said on X.
"Immediate action must be taken against this officer who has brazenly violated all rules and norms," he demanded.
The derogatory comment about Rahul was made on a post shared by Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate. In a clip from her conversation with a historian on X, she said, "History is made and cannot be changed. Narendra Modi knows how history will remember him and that is why he is worried." In response, a post from the official X handle of the Gautam Buddha Nagar DM said, "You should think about yourself and your Pappu."