Cong leaders get Delhi police notices over Toolkit row, Patra likely to be summoned

New Delhi: As the Toolkit controversy is getting intensified, the Delhi Police are said to have served notices to Congress' media head and spokesperson, summoning them to record their statements. Reports also suggest that the BJP leader Sambit Patra will be summoned incoming days.

The Toolkit debate got national attention when Twitter labelled "manipulated media" on a tweet posted by the BJP's Sambit Patra where he claimed the Congress was indulging in a Toolkit to defame the Centre's COVID handling.

The notices have reportedly been served to the Congress social media head Rohan Gupta and spokesperson MV Rajeev Gowda, reported The Indian Express.

The new development is reported to be an effort to protect the legitimacy of BJP's spokesperson Sambit Patra as Twitter's labelling is believed to have raised questions on his credentials in commenting on issues.

The Delhi Police on Monday had visited Twitter India's Delhi and Gurgaon offices to serve the microblogging site a notice asking it to share information based on which it had classified a Sambit Patra's toolkit related tweet as "manipulated media".

A notice was served to Twitter as the Police want to know on what basis Twitter decided to add the 'manipulated media' label to the tweets. Delhi Police has said that as per their investigation, Twitter is acquainted with some facts related to the matter and are in possession of some information regarding the same.

Currently, the Delhi police are conducting preliminary enquiry before registering an FIR and summoning all the concerned people and organisations allegedly involved in the matter, a senior police officer said.

Citing the Twitter India MD's ambiguous reply regarding the allegations, Delhi Police PRO Chinmoy Biswal said the move to serve notice was "a part of a routine process" which was necessitated to ascertain who is the right person to serve a notice.

According to a Delhi Police official, the Congress complaint mentioned tweets by Patra and others and asked police and Twitter to take action against them.