Indore contaminated water tragedy: Influencer apologises after booked for remarks against BJP MP

Indore, Feb 4 (PTI) A social media influencer on Wednesday apologised after a case was registered against him for allegedly making objectionable and false remarks against Lok Sabha member Shankar Lalwani in a reel related to deaths caused by contaminated drinking water in Indore.

The influencer, identified as Jatin Shukla, said he had used abusive language in the reel due to "lack of information" and a "mistake".

Shukla issued an apology through a video posted on Instagram.

In the video, Shukla said that while making the reel on the Indore drinking water tragedy, he used certain abusive words against Lalwani due to a lack of information and by mistake, but his intention was not to malign or insult the local MP.

"My words hurt the MP's sentiments. For this, I apologise to the MP and to all of you," he said.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajesh Dandotiya said a case was registered against Shukla on January 30 at the crime branch on a complaint lodged by MP's representative Vishal Gidwani.

The influencer was booked under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (disobedience of an order lawfully promulgated by a public servant) and Section 352 (intentional use of abusive words by a person with the intent to breach peace).

Dandotiya said the reel contained allegedly objectionable, false, and misleading remarks against the local Lok Sabha MP.

He said the police have imposed legal restrictions on the spread of any kind of misleading information on social media, and the influencer violated the prohibitive order.

The FIR said Shukla made "baseless allegations" against Lalwani in a reel regarding deaths caused by contaminated water in Indore's Bhagirathpura area.

According to the FIR, the reel also allegedly used abusive language and falsely claimed that after the deaths, the influencer had come to Indore and met the MP in the city.

Officials said an outbreak of vomiting and diarrhoea caused by contaminated drinking water began in Bhagirathpura in late December. The Congress has claimed that 32 people have died in the outbreak so far.

In a 'death audit' report submitted by the state government to the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on January 27, it was stated that there was a possibility that 16 deaths in Bhagirathpura were linked to the vomiting and diarrhoea outbreak caused by contaminated drinking water.

The court has ordered a judicial probe into the contaminated drinking water case and constituted a one-member commission headed by former High Court judge Justice Sushil Kumar Gupta. PTI HWP LAL NSK