Delhi Police raids Twitter's Delhi, Gurugram offices in 'Toolkit' case

A team of officers from the Delhi Police Special Cell is carrying out a search at the Twitter India offices in Lado Sarai, Delhi and Gurugram. The search is being conducted in connection with an inquiry into a complaint regarding an alleged COVID-19 'toolkit'. On Monday, Delhi police had sent a notice to Twitter India seeking clarification for classifying a related tweet of BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra as "manipulated media", an official has explained.

"It appears that Twitter has some information which is not known to us on the basis of which they have classified it (Patra's tweet) as such. This information is relevant to the inquiry. The Special Cell, which is conducting the inquiry, wants to find out the truth. Twitter, which has claimed to know the underlying truth, should clarify," said Police PRO Chinmoy Biswal.

The Delhi Police is yet to reveal the details of the complaint or the identity of the individual who filed it.

Earlier, BJP had accused the Congress of creating a 'toolkit' that sought to tarnish the image of the country and of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It allegedly did so by calling the new strain of coronavirus "India strain" or "Modi strain". The Congress party has denied these allegations levelled by the BJP. Congress had claimed that the ruling party has come up with a fake 'toolkit' to defame it.

Last week, Twitter had labelled a tweet posted by BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra as "manipulated media". The tweet was about an COVID-19 'toolkit' allegedly created by the Congress party. Twitter has stated that it "may label Tweets that include media (videos, audio, and images) that have been deceptively altered or fabricated".

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