BJP leader Amit Malviya files FIR against 'The Wire'; alleges defamation, criminal conspiracy

New Delhi: Senior BJP leader Amit Malviya on Saturday filed a criminal complaint against online publication ‘The Wire’ for alleged forgery, cheating, harming reputation, defamation and criminal conspiracy.

In his FIR to the Delhi Police, the BJP’s IT department head named the top management of ‘The Wire’ including the portal’s founder Siddharth Varadarajan, founding editor Sidharth Bhatia, editor MK Venu, deputy editor and executive news producer Jahnavi Sen, Foundation for Independent Journalism and other unknown persons for offences punishable under sections 420, 468, 469, 471, 500 г/w 120B and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

‘The Wire’ had reportedly posted reports that alleged that BJP leader Amit Malviya colluded with Meta, the parent company of social media giant Instagram in removing content deemed unfavourable to the saffron party. The reports have since been retracted by the portal.

Amit Malviya had said on Friday that he take legal recourse against ‘The Wire’ over the controversial stories.

“I will lodge an FIR with concerned police station under sections that deal with forgery, forgery for the purposes of cheating, forgery for the purposes of harming reputation, defamation, cheating and criminal conspiracy among others. Additionally, I will also initiate appropriate civil action for damages against ‘The Wire’ and its associates,” Amit Malviya had told the media.

“It is clear that ‘The Wire’ and some unknown persons entered into a criminal conspiracy with intent to malign and tarnish my reputation, deliberately inserted my name into a story, and fabricated evidence to implicate me. This also undermines the democratic and informed choices that the public makes, through a carefully calibrated campaign of disinformation and calumny, and does irreparable harm to the democratic right of dissent,” he added.

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