Toolkit row: Delhi Police sends notice to two Congress leaders

Two Congress leaders Rajeev Gowda and Rohan Gupta have been served a notice by Delhi Police to join the probe in the 'toolkit' case even as the party said on Tuesday that it was proceeding with the FIR filed in Chhattisgarh while no case has been registered in the capital.

The notice was issued to the two leaders, who filed a joint complaint with Delhi Police, on May 21, three days after they filed a complaint in connection with BJP leader Sambit Patra tweeting a 'toolkit' on Covid-19 which he alleged was the handiwork of Congress. However, the Congress said it was "forged" and the party had no hand in it.

Congress has responded to the notice on May 22 saying that Chhattisgarh Police has registered a case and they were proceeding with that case. The party also said Delhi Police has so far not registered a case.

Read | Congress slams 'raid' on Twitter offices, calls it attempt to 'murder' freedom of speech

The Congress and the BJP were locked in a verbal duel after the latter accused its opponent of orchestrating a campaign to malign the Narendra Modi government over Covid-19 handling and tweeted a 'toolkit' blaming the party.

"We caught the BJP with fraud. They are exposed. They are really angry and now targeting Twitter, which has called the tweet manipulated. In a democracy, it is really worrying that a ruling party goes to the extent of orchestrating such a campaign using fake documents," Gowda, who heads the AICC Research Department, told DH. Gupta heads the social media wing of the party.

A senior police official also said these were not fresh notices, which were issued around a week ago. The official said the Congress leaders were asked to join the probe to take the probe forward.

Congress has already approached Twitter seeking permanent suspension of Twitter accounts of BJP president JP Nadda, BJP Organisation Secretary BL Santosh, Union Minister Smriti Irani and Patra.

Read | Toolkit tweet: Delhi Police reach doorsteps of Twitter

On Tuesday, Congress stepped up the attack and shot off another letter urging it to classify the tweets on toolkit by 11 Union Ministers -- Tawarchand Gehlot, Ravishankar Prasad, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Piyush Goyal, Harsh Vardhan, Giriraj Singh, Irani, Prahlad Joshi, Dharmendra Pradhan, Mukthar Abbas Naqvi and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat -- as "manipulated media".

On Monday, investigators from Delhi Police's Special Cell made an unusual visit to Twitter India's office in south Delhi and Gurugram to "serve notice as a part of routine process" and it was necessitated as the investigators wanted to ascertain who was the “right person to serve a notice” with replies by the Twitter India Managing Director “have been very ambiguous”.

This action by Delhi Police was criticised by a section as an attempt in coercing the social media giant to fall in line after it did not comply with the government's order to remove the "manipulated media" tag to Patra's tweet on the toolkit on a complaint from the Congress.