FIR against Digvijaya Singh for 'fake' post on Khargone violence

Bhopal, April 12 (IANS) An FIR has been registered against senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh for sharing a photograph related to Khargone communal violence in Madhya Pradesh which later allegedly turned out to be fake.

The FIR against Singh was registered at a Bhopal police station on the basis of a complaint lodged by the BJP district (Bhopal) president Sumit Pachauri on Tuesday.

Singh, who is also the former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, was booked under Section 153 (a), 295 (a), 465 and 505 (2) of the Indian Penal Code, sources told IANS.

Earlier on Tuesday, Singh had posted a photograph showing a group of people hoisting a saffron flag at a mosque while mentioning about the communal violence in Madhya Pradesh's Khargone district.

Singh had shared his post on his official Twitter account in the morning, however, he deleted the post soon after the controversy erupted.

Tweeting the photo, Singh wrote: "Is it appropriate to hoist a saffron flag on a mosque. Did the Khargone administration allow this (Ram Navami) procession to carry weapons."

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Home Minister Narottam Mishra claimed the photograph shared by Singh was fake.

"The former chief minister has shared a fake photograph in social media, which has nothing to with Khargone violence issue. He not only shared a fake photograph but mentioned my name as well in his post," Chouhan said after a meeting with the Director General of Police (DGP) and other senior bureaucrats.

Chouhan also called Digvijaya Singh's post a 'conspiracy to spread religious frenzy in the state.

Nearly 100 people have been arrested so far in connection with communal violence broke out in Madhya Pradesh's Khargone district on the occasion of Ram Navami on Sunday.

It started after a group of people pelted stones at the procession, which turned into a communal violence in Khargone city.

Over 40 buildings, including shops and homes have been demolished as the state government has ordered to run over bulldozers on the houses of stone pelters.

On Monday, Digvijaya Singh had held Khargone district administration and the police responsible for communal violence.