BRS party IT cell employee held over malicious campaign against Karnataka govt

Bengaluru: The city police have arrested an IT cell employee of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party for allegedly carrying out a malicious campaign against the Karnataka government on social media platform during the recent Telangana Assembly elections.

The campaign against the state government and Energy Minister KJ George was carried out on X account @ TeluguScribe during Telangana State Assembly elections, officials said on Friday.

According to an official statement, the Cyber, Economic Offences and Narcotics (CEN) police arrested Ravi Kanti Sharma, (33), a resident of Karimnagara on Wednesday.

The accused is an active worker of the BRS party and works in the party’s IT cell. His father and mother are also ex-corporators of the BRS party.

"Using artificial intelligence, the accused had circulated a fake audio clip of the Minister on social media platform X regarding power situation and implementation of the Gruha Jyothi scheme in Karnataka. After taking inputs from the law enforcement wing of X, police started the investigation and found that the mobile number used for X account was in the name of Ravi Kanti Sharma’s father," the statement said.

Regarding the malicious campaign against the Energy Minister on the @TelaguScribe X account, the BESCOM General Manager (A and HR) filed a complaint with the police on November 28, 2023.

The city police arrested the accused and produced him before the Court. Later, he was released on bail, it added.