Jagitial: In a bid to stop fake news from spreading, authorities took stringent actions against five persons working in media on charges of spreading fake news pertaining to EVMs being shifted in auto rickshaws in the night in Jagitial town.
The EVMS used in the recent LS polls are safe and have been kept under lock and seal, authorities cleared, TT reports.
The alleged fake news has triggered controversy and spread like wildfire in the region.
Giving a clarification the authorities said the EVMs used for demonstration purposes were shifted in an auto rickshaw but the news indicated that EVMs used in the recent Parliamentary polls were shifted in an auto rickshaw.
The alleged fake news went viral on Telugu news channels and on social media platforms forcing the authorities to issue clarifications and lodge a complaint with the police.
The Jagtial urban Tahsildar police booked the journalists working in different newspapers and TV channels under sections 447, 186, 505 (2) of the IPC for clicking posting pictures of EVMS while they were being shifted in an auto rickshaw on Monday night.
The Local people had followed the auto rickshaw triggering controversy followed by local journalists working in different newspapers and TV channels rushing to the spot.
Videos of EVMs shifting in autorickshaw went viral in different social media groups.
Responding to the issue, the Chief Electoral Officer, Rajat Kumar directed the district collector Dr A Sharath to conduct an inquiry into the matter.
It was after the inquiry was conducted the collector informed that M-2 EVMs used for demo purpose were shifted to mini stadium From Tahsildar office to shift them to Hyderabad.
And shortly after the collector gave his statement, local scribes who took the pictures and recorded were booked under cases.
Dugyala Gopikrishna (Velugu), Sridhat (Andhra Jyothi), Chintha Naresh (Sakshi tv), Raji Reddy (tv5), Sama Mahesh (local news channel), Gaddam Harikrishna (CVR news), Hyder Ali (Mojo tv), Ravinder (Andhra Jyothi, Bheerpur), and Akkinapalli Venu (Andhra Prabha, Bheerpur) were booked.
However, journalist unions condemned the register of a case against scribes.