‘2 Rs Yogi toolkit’ fake, retired IAS officer Surya Pratap Singh had shared a doctored audio clip that showed UP CM in bad light

An audio clip had gone viral recently where a person could be heard being told to tweet in favour of Yogi Adityanath from a fake account. The name of Gajendra Chauhan is also mentioned. Propagandists had cited the audio clip to claim that people were being told to tweet in support of BJP for 2 rupees, which led it to being labeled ‘2 Rs Yogi toolkit’.

The audio was posted by retired IAS officer Surya Pratap Singh, who has been attacking the BJP govt continuous for last several months.

https://twitter.com/suryapsingh_IAS/status/1399018484734959619?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Uttar Pradesh police investigated the matter following a complaint by Atul Kushwaha on the 31st of May and found that it was a doctored video shared with the intention to cause defamation. In a statement, the Kanpur Nagar Media Cell has said that Ashish Pandey and Atul Kushwaha work in social media management for various clients.

Thus, due to professional rivalry, Pandey wanted to ruin Kushwaha’s reputation. Pandey solicited the help of subordinate Himanshu Saini to achieve the objective. Himanshu befriended a 15-year old boy on social media and recorded two calls which were conversations with him.

After that, Ashish Pandey and Himanshu Saini edited the two audio clips to create a clip that could be made to go viral. It was this doctored ‘2 Rs Yogi toolkit’ audio that retired IAS officer SP Singh had shared on Twitter and ‘journalist’ Rohini Singh had tweeted about it.

https://twitter.com/rohini_sgh/status/1399017257733292033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Evidence has been recovered from the mobile phones and laptops of the accused and both of them have confessed to the crime. A case has been registered under sections 465/468/469/471/505/34 and other relevant provisions of the IT Act.

Earlier this week, the Kanpur Police had filed an FIR against Surya Pratap Singh, Puneet Saini and Himanshu Saini after Atul Khushwaha had registered a complaint against them. He had said that ‘as part of the cheap politics of the Opposition, his name is being ruined on social media. He added that “the audio is also attempting to defame the Yogi government.”