Chhattisgarh Police have added sections pertaining to immoral trafficking in the case against a web portal's journalist, who was arrested for allegedly circulating fake news against Congress leaders, an official said on Tuesday.
After journalist Nilesh Sharma was arrested in Raipur last Wednesday, police recovered a large amount of pornographic content from his mobile handset, the official said, adding that he was allegedly circulating such content.
“The investigation also revealed that he was allegedly in contact with some women who indulged in flesh trade, and a woman was also arrested in this case. Based on the analysis of Sharma's mobile handset, sections of the Information Technology Act and the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act have been added in the case," the official said.
A preliminary analysis of Sharma's WhatApp chats indicated that he had allegedly collected money from several people on the pretext of helping in getting their work done, he said. Some confidential government documents were also recovered from his phone, the official said without revealing more information about the documents.
He said the police were probing how the journalist got such documents. Sharma allegedly published fake news against Congress leaders by using symbolic names in the web portal’s column 'Ghurwa ke Mati'. On the complaint of Congress worker Khilawan Nishad, a case was registered against him last week under IPC provisions at the Civil Lines police station, the police said.
The probe into the case also revealed that a police officer, who was posted for the security duty of an MLA, had allegedly shared two call detail records (CDRs) illegally with the journalist following which the officer was suspended, they said.
“During the analysis of Sharma's phone, some chats surfaced which indicated intimidation. Sharma was allegedly threatening and blackmailing people under the garb of journalism. The police will record the statements of such people,” the official said.
With PTI inputs.
