Delhi Police visits Twitter India offices over 'Congress toolkit' row
New Delhi/IBNS: Delhi Police teams on Monday evening visited Twitter India's offices after serving notice to the microblogging site in a row over Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sambit Patra's tweet on an alleged "Congress toolkit" being marked as "manipulated media".
According to the police, they went to Twitter India's offices in south Delhi and at Gurgaon to hand the notice to the officials in person after finding the social media giant's replies "ambiguous".
The visit "was necessitated as we wanted to ascertain who is the right person to serve a notice, as replies by Twitter India Managing Director have been very ambiguous," the Delhi Police told media, calling it a "routine" task.
Television channels' visuals showed Special Cell cops at the Delhi office of Twitter India, which was shut as most employees are working from home in the Covid lockdown.
An officer was seen asking an employee for the names of top managers.
The row involves BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra's tweet on May 18, shared by several leaders of the ruling party, with screenshots of what he called a "Congress toolkit" aimed at discrediting Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as the government's handling of Covid situation.
Friends look at the #CongressToolKit in extending help to the needy during the Pandemic!
— Sambit Patra (@sambitswaraj) May 18, 2021
More of a PR exercise with the help of “Friendly Journalists” & “Influencers” than a soulful endeavour.
Read for yourselves the agenda of the Congress:#CongressToolKitExposed pic.twitter.com/3b7c2GN0re
The Congress party had written to Twitter stating the alleged "toolkit" was fake and forged letterheads had been used in the screenshots in circulation.
The opposition party also said it had filed FIRs against BJP leaders who had shared the documents.
On Thursday evening, Twitter marked Patra's tweet as "manipulated media".
The next day, the government shot a stern letter asking Twitter to remove the tag as the "toolkit" as it was still under investigation.
On Monday, the Delhi Police's Special Cell sent a notice to Twitter asking for a clarification on the matter.
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