The legal representatives of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and four other leaders, who have been called by Delhi Police regarding the ‘deepfake video’ case involving Union Home Minister Amit Shah, have requested additional time for their clients to appear via email.
The counsels cited their clients’ inability to comply with the Delhi Police summons regarding the ongoing investigation into the ‘doctored’ video.
Delhi Police had summoned the Telangana CM and others as part of the inquiry into the circulation of an alleged fake video in which the Union Home Minister purportedly made remarks against reservations. However, the BJP later identified the viral clip as fake and accused several Congress leaders in the state of circulating it.
The summons required CM Reddy and four others to appear at 10.30 am on May 1, along with their mobile phones and laptops for forensic examination. However, their lawyers requested more time, stating their inability to appear on the scheduled date.
The police officers stated that the investigation would proceed based on the submissions or responses received from those summoned regarding the ‘fake’ video case.
Earlier, the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of Delhi Police had issued summons to 16 individuals across 7 to 8 states under Sections 91 and 160 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to join the investigation and provide relevant documents and electronic devices as evidence.
The summons were issued to six members of the ruling Congress in Telangana, including Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, asking them to appear for questioning on May 1 at the IFSO unit in Delhi’s Dwarka. CrPC Section 160 allows police to summon a person for investigation, while Section 91 allows them to seek specific documents or gadgets as evidence.
Assam Police reportedly arrested Reetom Singh on Monday in connection with the ‘doctored’ video case, alleging that the video clip was shared by several Congress leaders.
The BJP’s Telangana unit had earlier filed a complaint against CM Revanth Reddy and the Congress’ state chief, accusing them of fabricating and morphing Amit Shah’s speech.