Mumbai police arrested a Bhopal man with a fictitious name operating from Instagram for sending death, rape threats to journalist Rana Ayyub.
The 24-year-old man from Bhopal, identified as Siddharth Shrivastav, was operating from an Instagram profile with a fake name. He was served a notice by the police and on Thursday was arrested in Mumbai, and arrested for sending rape, death threats to journalist Rana Ayyub.
The accused has studied till class 10. He works as a salesman in a garment shop and is unmarried. A police officer informed, “Shrivastav allegedly threatened to kill Rana if she continued her work as a journalist. He also used vulgar and obscene language against her.”
The Mumbai police had gathered information on the six Twitter and Instagram accounts from the service providers. The crime cyber cell is also investigating whether the accused have targeted other journalists or individuals on social media.
He was produced before a metropolitan magistrate in Bandra by the police seeking his custody, however, the court remanded him to judicial custody. He would be lodged in jail after his RT-PCR test.
Ayyub tweeted on Thursday, “Mumbai cybercrime has made the first arrest in the rape and death threats issued to me. A young man has been arrested from Bhopal for giving me death threats. Hugely impressed with the alacrity of @MumbaiPolice and @CPMumbaiPolice who had promised me justice without delay. A First Information Report (FIR) has been registered in the matter on January 28 against at least four unknown suspects.
Mumbai cyber crime has made the first arrest in the rape and death threats issued to me. A young man has been arrested from Bhopal for giving me death threats. Hugely impressed with the alacrity of @MumbaiPolice and @CPMumbaiPolice who had promised me justice without delay
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) February 10, 2022
Rana Ayyub had informed the cyber police that over 26,000 abusive, objectionable tweets were posted on her Twitter handle and other platforms over the period of a few days. “The accused persons posted fake news about Ayyub saying that she has been banned from Saudi Arabia and the user also gave her rape threats and abused her. The offense has been registered against four Twitter and two Instagram account users on Friday,” a deputy commissioner of police rank officer said.
On January 25, Ayyub had tweeted, “26.4 thousand tweets, most are abusive, rape and death threats, calling me a terror sympathiser. Most tweets are by the Indian right-wing & Saudi nationalists who are attacking me after I posted a tweet in solidarity with Yemen and calling out the Saudis. Hello @TwitterIndia.”
Rana Ayyub, Indian journalist and opinion columnist with The Washington Post is also the author of the investigative book Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover-Up, writing about the 2002 riots where mostly Muslims were killed under the watch of Narendra Modi, and this does not make her popular with the right-wing. She has over 1.5 million followers on Twitter and 320K followers on Instagram and is a relentless critic of the BJP-led union government and right-wing organizations.
Her haters on the job of fabricating fake news are vigilant in their task, and on January 26, a Twitter user by the name @thescoopbeats claiming to be an Indian News Media Organisation, posted a YouTube video link with a message, “Saudi Arab Banned Rana Ayyub #RanaAyyub #SaudiArabian #banned @RanaAyyub @KingSalman Anchor @Mannusahu1319, @Vidyanshi6 Editor @Patrakar_Ayush.”
In the 10-minute video, two young women presented a news bulletin with memes under the title, ‘Saudi Banned Rana Ayyub?’. The video received over 4,000 views. In a tweet, Ayyub claimed that the portal spread fake news by using a photoshopped tweet image of Ayyub saying she hates India and she hates all Indians. In response, the portal uploaded another video claiming that the facts presented in their news were all correct and authentic.
Mumbai police officers said that they are also looking into the YouTube video. The police have secured information on the six Twitter and Instagram accounts from the service providers. The cyber cell is also investigating whether the accused have targeted other journalists or individuals on social media.
The accused persons have been booked by the West Region Cyber Police Station under sections 354A (Sexual Harassment), 506-2 (death threats), 509 (outraging modesty of women), 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code, and 66c (Punishment for identity theft) and 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of Information Technology Act, the police said. More arrests are likely in the case.
The Mumbai police are being applauded for their brilliant work and detective skills, being hailed as India’s Scotland Yard.
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