Noida Police has arrested one Mohammad Zeeshan for creating a fake Facebook profile of Acharya Balkrishna, M.D. of Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, and sending people vulgar messages from the account.
आचार्य बालकृष्ण @Ach_Balkrishna जी की फर्जी फेसबुक बनाकर उनके अनुयायियों से अशोभनीय चैटिंग करने वाले अभियुक्त- मौहम्मद जिशान को थाना सेक्टर 20 #NoidaPolice द्वारा किया गिरफ्तार, कब्जे से मोबाइल फोन व दो सिम बरामद।@Uppolice pic.twitter.com/WOhxNjDtLK
— NOIDA POLICE (@noidapolice) August 11, 2018
The Police stated that the accused wanted to malign Balkrishna’s reputation. Manish Kumar Saxena, station house officer, stated, “Pramod Joshi, who runs a firm in Sector 5, brought the crime to our notice. Joshi came across the account on Facebook. He said the accused gave him a WhatsApp number, saying that the number belongs to Acharya Balkrishna, while chatting on Facebook.”
Pramod Joshi, Chief Executive Officer of Vedic Broadcasting Limited, wrote in his complaint, “The unidentified accused has created a fake Facebook profile of Balkrishna and was chatting with his followers in an indecent and vulgar manner which was damaging his reputation.” The cyber cell of the Police had been tracking Zeeshan since the case was registered.
A spokesperson for Patanjali Ayurveda, SK Tijarawala, suggested that more people were involved with the attempt at defamation while demanding a thorough investigation into the matter. He said, “This was a targeted attack to destroy the reputation of an organisation that is spread across the country. It is a strict offence. There should be a thorough investigation into the matter. Such an act is not done by just an individual. The motive is to put doubt in the minds of people. We respect free speech but to malign an individual’s image is not right.”
The Police has recovered a Motorola phone from the accused and two SIM cards. The accused has been booked under sections 419 (punishment for impersonation), 420 (cheating) and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Information Technology Act.
