FIR against Arnab Goswami, editor of Kannada channel of Republic Group for fake news report about Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah

Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami is accused of airing fake news about Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. | Photo Credit: File photo

Bengaluru police have registered a case against Arnab Goswami, editor-in-chief of Republic TV, and Niranjan, editor of the Kannada news channel of the same group (R Kannada), for allegedly airing a fake news report about Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The duo has been booked under Section 505 (2) of Indian Penal Code for ‘statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes’. 

The complainant is Ravindra M. V., secretary, Legal Cell, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. He has alleged that on March 27 around 7.15 p.m., R Kannada channel aired a news story claiming that traffic on M. G. Road in Bengaluru was stopped to enable passage for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and, hence, an ambulance was stuck. The news report was accompanied by a video that had been posted on social media. However, at that time, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was not in Bengaluru. He was in Mysuru, according to the complainant. 

The complainant has sought action against Arnab Goswami and Niranjan for ‘airing fake news without verifying it with an intention to provoke people during elections’.