3 arrested in Bangalore for hate SMSes

Total 16 people arrested for threats

With the arrest of three persons on Saturday,the Bangalore police claimed to have tackled one of the sources of disinformation that led to threats to people from the Northeast,resulting in the exodus of 28,000 people from the city in the last three days.

Anees Pasha,26,Tahseen Nawaz,32,and Shahid Salman Khan,22,all residents of south Bangalore,have been charged with disseminating false information among the Muslims resulting in targeting of people from the Northeast.

Bangalore Police Commissioner Jyothi Prakash Mirji said they received credible information that Pasha,who runs a mobile repair shop,was spreading rumours through SMSes and uploading videos through electronic means inciting hatred and emotional outrage against people of the Northeast.

The police raided his shop in the afternoon,and seized cellphones,computers and laptops. Pashas interrogation revealed that he and his associates were sending messages to a vast number of people which depicted the situation in the Northeast in a wrong way and incited violence against people of the region, said Mirji.

Police sources said the trio were involved in disinformation activities without understanding the underlying repercussions,indicating that it did not seem like an organised effort. We got ground intelligence inputs that these people were involved in transmitting video images that were inciting anger in one community against another, said these sources.

Deputy Commissioner of Police P S Harsha said there was a visible decrease in the number of incendiary messages being sent out in his area since the trios detention.

The arrests followed systematic investigations. There is a significant drop in the exchange of these SMSes and MMSes in one community. We are not in a position to reveal the full details of the number of messages sent out by this group since it is a sensitive issue, he said.

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They obtained video images from some source and spread it far and wide in Bangalore. They also sent messages demanding reprisal. There needs to be more investigations, said police sources.

In the last four days,the Bangalore police have registered 15 cases and arrested 16 people for threatening or asking people of the Northeast to leave Bangalore by August 20.

On Saturday,four persons,Parvez,Imran Pasha,Mudassar and Muzammil,were arrested for asking some Northeast students why they had not left the city as yet. Earlier,the Northeast people were not registering complaints. Now they are doing it,and we are acting upon it, said DGP Lalrokhuma Pachau.