Eight Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionaries have been issued notices by the Chhattisgarh police for allegedly posting hateful content on social media against Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and asked them to appear before it. The police notice said that the posts by BJP members allegedly used derogatory terms for the CM.
According to a PTI report, on April 12, Congress filed a complaint with the Raipur police claiming that the social media posts of these BJP members were spreading hate.
These notices were issued on Friday, news agency PTI reported.
"In the notices, these BJP functionaries have been asked to appear before the police and present factual statements related to such posts," Prashant Agrawal, Raipur Senior Superintendent of Police said on Friday, as per the report.
The eight functionaries comprise BJP spokesperson Sanjay Shrivastava, IT cell in-charge of BJP Chhattisgarh's Twitter handle Sunil Pillai, treasurer Nandan Jain, BJP trade cell president Kedarnath Gupta, BJP Yuva Morcha Mandal president Yogi Sahu, divisional Yuva Morcha coordinator Kamal Sharma, DD Nagar BJP Yuva Morcha member Shubhankar and party worker Bittu Panigrahi.
The notices were issued as per a Supreme Court order dated October 21 last year directing action against hate speeches, the police told PTI.
The notices said that the derogatory terms against the CM were in connection with the communal violence in Biranpur in the state’s Bemetara district.
After a fight among school children, violence had taken place in the Biranpur village, which is about 100 kilometres from the state capital, Raipur on April 8. This led to the death of 22-year-old Bhuneshwar Sahu and wounded three policemen.
Two houses were burnt during the statewide 'bandh' (shutdown) called by right-wing organisations on April 10, while the bodies of Rahim Mohammad and his son Idul Mohammad were found with multiple injuries at a murum mine on April 11.
Five persons were arrested on Friday for alleged involvement in torching Mohammad’s house.
The five have been identified as Ajay Rajak (23), Pravin Kumar Sahu (27), Pradip Rajak (21) and Dinesh Rajak (23), residents of Pendarwani village in neighbouring Khairagarh district and Sandip Sahu (20) of Ramhepur village in adjoin Kabirdham district, Bemetara Superintendent of Police Indira Kalyan Elesela told PTI.
While 11 people have been arrested for alleged involvement in the murder of Sahu, the police have not yet got leads in the murder of Rahim and Idul.