Three held for spreading fake news

Hyderabad: Three persons were arrested on Monday for circulating fake news that a man from Bhongir died due to

Covid-19

. The trio, who circulated a morphed photograph of a patient and declared that he died due to coronavirus, was arrested under the National Disaster Management Act.

Bhongir police of Rachakonda commissionerate said M Shiva Kumar, J Bharat Kumar and A Balaraju were nabbed on Sunday. On questioning, police discovered that Bharat had morphed a patient’s photo and circulated it, claiming the man died due to Covid-19 while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Hyderabad. He also claimed the patient was from Bhongir and his body was shifted there. The photo and information was shared on Whatsapp groups, creating panic in Bhongir. Though Bharat allegedly morphed the photograph and uploaded it, police also arrested WhatsApp group admin Shiva Kumar and Balaraju for sharing it on other groups.

Meanwhile, Chaitnayapuri police registered a case for spreading fake news that coronavirus had affected a person in a particular colony.