Lingayat row 'fake letter': CID quizzes portal founder

The Criminal Investigation Department officials interrogated Mahesh Vikram Hegde, founder of Postcard online news portal, in connection with a complaint filed by Home Minister M B Patil over the fake letter on Lingayat issue.

Hemanth Nimbalkar IGP, CID said that a notice has been issued to Hegde to appear before the CID cyber division, in connection with the fake letter, said to have been written by Patil to former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on separate religion status to Lingayat community.

“We had interrogated couple of people in this case and a notice was also issued to Hegde to appear before the investigation office, he was just interrogated and not arrested,” Nimbalkar said.

Some miscreants had forged the letterhead of Bijapur Lingayat District Educational Association (BLDE ) and the signature of Patil in July 10, 2017, and the letter went viral on social media, stating that Congress is trying to divide Hindu communities to bag votes. The post claimed that this letter was written by Patil to Sonia. Patil, who is also chairman of BLDE, filed a complaint with Adarsh Nagar police station in Vijayapura. The case was later transferred to CID.

This fake letter went viral during Assembly election and it was back in the news during the second phase Lok Sabha elections in the state last week. The news was published in Postcard News portal without verification, iboth during Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

BJP leaders commented on that during the election, showing the Congress on poor light to influence voters, sources said.

CID sources said that the investigation has revealed that this news was first published in the Postcard News.

“We interrogated Hegde as to how he got that letter and he did not answer to our question. He sought some time to find out the source,” they said.