Two arrested for publishing fake news on HDK

Two persons, including an employee of an MNC, were arrested on Friday for morphing photographs of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and actor Radhika and spreading fake news on social media.

The High Grounds police arrested Gangadhar Amalajeri, (30), a resident of Rabkavi in Bagalkot and Chukidhar Ajith Shetty Haranje,(40) a resident of Brahmavar in Udupi. Gangadhar works in an MNC and also owns the news portal uksuddi.in, where the slanderous content appeared.

According to the police, Kumaraswamy’s media secretary filed a complaint against the duo, accusing them of defaming the CM by publishing the news on uksuddi.in and sharing it on social media. The morphed photographs went viral and they were posted by Shetty on his Facebook account as well.

Police said that Gangadhar downloaded old photographs of Kumaraswamy and Radhika and morphed them to falsely depict the two at a resort. Next, he went on to publish news that scribes had been scolded by the chief minister for publishing the news and photographs.

The same fake news item and morphed photographs were posted by Shetty on his Facebook account to tarnish the image of the chief
minister.

During interrogation, Gangadhar told police that he published the fake news to make his news portal famous. Shetty, who owns a garment business, confessed that he wanted to damage the CM’s image.