Fake news, extortion racket targeting Rajasthan deputy CM busted; 2 held from MP

Rajasthan Police has detained two people from Madhya Pradesh associated with a news portal for allegedly publishing a series of fake and defamatory reports against Deputy Chief Minister Diya Kumari and demanding Rs 5 crore for their removal.

According to the complaint lodged on September 28, the accused -- Anand Pandey and Harish Divekar -- had published around a dozen allegedly baseless and fabricated stories against Kumari over the last month on the news portal, 'The Sutra'.

The complainant claimed that the duo later contacted acquaintances of the deputy chief minister, demanding several crores of rupees to delete the false reports and to refrain from publishing such content in the future.

They also allegedly threatened to damage her political and social image if the demand was not met, Jaipur police said in a statement issued late Friday.

Police said the same misleading content was also circulated on another affiliated web portal called 'The Capital'. Technical examination and witness statements confirmed that the reports were not fact-based, the release said.

During the investigation, it emerged that the accused had threatened to launch a campaign titled "Destroy Diya" if their extortion demand was not met.

Based on the evidence collected, the investigating officer detained Pandey and Divekar from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, on Friday and brought them to Jaipur for further questioning.

Police said further investigation is underway to identify other individuals involved in the criminal conspiracy.