Cops write to US govt on FB post that sparked Pune violence

The Crime Branch had earlier traced one of the IP addresses of the posts to Nanded.

In a development that takes the Mumbai Police Crime Branch’s investigations into the recent “offensive content” controversy one step further, the central government has approved the Crime Branch’s Letters Rogatory (LR), seeking information about Facebook users who allegedly posted the “offensive content”. The LR, which has been duly approved, will now be sent to the government of the United States of America.

In June this year, pictures of Hindu Gods and historical leaders, morphed in an allegedly offensive manner, were uploaded on Facebook, sparking off protests across Maharashtra. A young software engineer from Pune was also killed during one of the violent protests.

The LR, a week after the Crime Branch initiated investigations, was sent through the state government to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for approval. Late last month, it was returned to the Crime Branch with MEA’s approval. “After that, we submitted it to an Esplanade Court judge, who examined it and signed it, as is the protocol. We have now sent it back to the MEA, and it will be forwarded to the US government,” said a Crime Branch officer.

The Crime Branch had earlier traced one of the IP addresses of the posts to Nanded. It, however, turned out to be a proxy server and hence the Crime Branch had to take the diplomatic way to obtain the correct information.

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