BJP MP Tejasvi Surya and the editors of two Kannada news portals have been named in a First Information Report, or FIR, filed by the police for apparently circulating fake news about a farmers’ suicide due to a land issue with the Waqf Board, the latter said on Friday.

The event started on November 7 when the MP of the Bangalore South raised a protest over ‘X’ (formally Twitter), linking a Farmer of Karnataka’s Haveri District to committing suicide after coming to know that his land was acquired by the Waqf Board. In his post, Surya said the actions of the state government, which he accused of pandering to minorities’ sentiments, had negative impacts, which were escalating to the point of being virtually unstoppable with every day that passed.

After this, the spokesperson of the Haveri district’s Superintendent of Police (SP) said it was a rumor and that no such case had been registered in the area. The SP said that the farmer who hanged himself was Rudrappa Channappa Balikai, the same person who died by suicide on 6th January 2022.

However, studies conducted revealed that his death was a result of pressure due to debts from loans and losses resulting from crops and had no link with any issue to do with Waqf Board land. The police had entered the case in section 174 of the CrPC, which deals with accidental or unnatural deaths at Adar Police Station, and the final report has revealed the actual cause of death of Balikai.

Tejasvi Surya withdrew his post after the police made their remarks on the matter. However, an officer from the social media monitoring cell of the Haveri district police lodged a complaint, and a criminal case was filed against Surya and the editors of Kannada Dunia and Kannada News e-paper.

The charges were filed under section 353 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which relates to making or circulating any statement likely to bring about hate or enmity between different groups.

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