Day after detention for ‘false news’ on Rajasthan Deputy CM, 2 from Bhopal news portal released, asked to rejoin questioning in 5 days

The FIR against them had alleged that they had carried false and defamatory stories against Kumari and demanded Rs 5 crore to take them down.

Jaipur Police Commissioner Biju George Joseph told The Indian Express that the two have been released after questioning. “The video on the basis of which we brought them for questioning – there was a demand for money in the video – they have said that it is not them or their voice, and that it is AI-generated.”

Jaipur police officers said they will submit an application seeking their voice samples to check this claim. The two have also been served a notice under BNSS section 35, asking them to answer four-five questions when they appear before the police next.

“The questionnaire asks them about the basis of the stories against Kumari on their website/YouTube, the source for these stories, why they shared them without verification, and who else worked with them on the stories,” said an officer.

“They will have to comply with the notice. Since they have come out with some explanation on their side, we have given them a reasonable opportunity,” the Commissioner said, adding that they have been called again after five days. “If we find that they have indeed made such a demand, then we will proceed accordingly.”

As for two other persons named in the FIR – the portal’s Rajasthan reporter Jinesh Jain and journalist Arvind Rawat, who was formerly working in the Deputy CM’s office – the Commissioner said that “they will also be examined”.

On Friday, a statement from the Jaipur Police Commissioner’s office had said that its “investigation revealed that the news broadcast was not based on facts” and that “the accused made an illegal demand of Rs 5 crore to remove false news from The Sootr channel and the web page and to prevent the broadcast of false news in the future”.

The complaint, lodged by Kumari’s office staffer Narendra Singh Rathore at Jaipur’s Karni Vihar police station, had alleged “systematic and conspiratorial blackmailing by broadcasting false and defamatory news, and for illegally demanding crores of rupees in the name of removing the broadcasted news and videos from the web portal and YouTube”.

Rathore, 35, is a native of Nagaur district and is currently working at 47, Civil Lines, Jaipur, the Deputy CM’s official address. Sources said that he mainly handles legal matters concerning Kumari.

The FIR has been lodged under BNS sections pertaining to defamation, extortion and making, publishing or circulating any statement, false information, rumour, or report, as well as sections of the IT Act.

Earlier, speaking to The Indian Express, a spokesperson for The Sootr had termed the police action “shocking and unlawful”.