Hyderabad: Chartered Accountant arrested for circulating fake government order on fresh Covid-19 lockdown

According to the police, Kumar on April 1 downloaded and forged the G.O copy issued by Telangana government last year when a lockdown was imposed.

A 48-year-old Chartered Accountant in Hyderabad was arrested Monday morning for allegedly circulating a fake government order that announced imposition of partial lockdown in Telangana from April 1.

Hyderabad police commissioner Anjani Kumar, while speaking at a press conference on Monday, revealed that the fake ‘G.O. 45’, dated April 1, 2021, was a copy of last year’s G.O that was allegedly forged and circulated by one Sreepathi Sanjeev Kumar. The accused works as a Chartered Accountant with Karvy & Co. in Hyderabad.

A native of Nellore town in Andhra Pradesh, Kumar has been living in Hyderabad since 1993. According to the police, Kumar on April 1 downloaded and forged the G.O copy issued by Telangana government last year when a lockdown was imposed. “After changing the dates of lockdown, he shared the PDF copy in a whatsapp group comprising 40 others from his badminton team. This was soon circulated to other groups via WhatsApp and soon went viral on social media,” said the police commissioner.

After the fake G.O went viral, announcing that establishments were to shut at 6 pm till 8 am, Telangana Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar quickly issued a statement saying no such order had been issued, and that the government was not considering imposing a lockdown.

The Cyber Crimes police station in Central Crime Station(CCS) of Hyderabad police had registered a case invoking sections 469(forgery) and 505 (1)(b) (intention to cause fear or alarm to public). The West Zone team of Hyderabad Commissioner’s Task Force nabbed the accused Monday morning. The police also seized a Dell laptop and an i-Phone used in allegedly commiting the offence.

Meanwhile, in the grip of a second wave of coronavirus infections, Telangana has recorded over a 1,000 fresh infections for the third consecutive day. Before the sudden surge in new cases, the number of new cases in mid-March hovered over 150-mark.

On Sunday, 1,097 new cases were reported. Greater Hyderabad and its adjoining districts Medchal-Malkajgiri and Rangareddy districts reported the maximum numbers—302, 138, and 116, respectively.

The cumulative caseload for Telangana stands at 3,12,237 cases. Among them, active cases are 8,746. Of them, 4,258 are undergoing treatment in different hospitals. According to the Directorate of Public Health, only 20.2 percent of the total caseload to date has been symptomatic.

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