CA arrested in Telangana for creating fake document announcing lockdown

Naveen S Garewal 

Tribune News Service 

Hyderabad, April 5

The Telangana Police have arrested a Chartered Accountant (CA) for creating a fake Government Order (GO) imposing a lockdown in the state on account of growing cases of COVID-19. The cyber cell of the state police tracked the fake GO to S. Sanjeev Kumar (48), a CA working with a prominent firm in Banjara Hills. 

The CA has been charged for faking an official document and spreading it using WhatsApp creating panic among the people. “The faking of government order on imposition of a lockdown amounts to cheating people by posting it on social media”, police said. 

Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar said the accused has downloaded an old GO regarding the Covid-19 lockdown issued by the state government in his laptop and forged it. “He forged the GO by changing the dates of the lockdown and wrote this year’s dates and further through WhatsApp circulated it,” Kumar said. 

The PDF format of fake GO was first circulated in a group of CA comprising of about 40 members. The group members then shared with their friends and it spread all over the state causing panic. 

The laptop and mobile device of the accused have been confiscated and a case under various provisions of the Information technology Act has been registered. The Hyderabad Cyber Crime police are investigating if there were other people associated with the CA. 

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