FIR against Arnab Goswami for fake news report about Karnataka CM

Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami is accused of airing fake news about Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
| Photo Credit: File photograph

Bengaluru police have registered a case against Arnab Goswami, editor-in-chief of Republic TV, and Niranjan, editor of the Kannada news channel of the identical group (R Kannada), for allegedly airing a fake news report about Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The duo has been booked below Section 505 (2) of Indian Penal Code for ‘statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes’. 

The complainant is Ravindra M. V., secretary, Legal Cell, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. He has alleged that on March 27 round 7.15 p.m., R Kannada channel aired a news story claiming that visitors on M. G. Road in Bengaluru was stopped to allow passage for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and, therefore, an ambulance was caught. The news report was accompanied by a video that had been posted on social media. However, at the moment, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was not in Bengaluru. He was in Mysuru, in response to the complainant. 

The complainant has sought motion against Arnab Goswami and Niranjan for ‘airing fake news without verifying it with an intention to provoke people during elections’.