Toolkit row: NSUI files FIR against BJP leaders Raman Singh, Sambit Patra

The Congress had accused the BJP of propagating a 'fake toolkit' to defame it

The National Students' Union of India (NSUI), the Congress party's students wing, on Wednesday lodged an FIR against former Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh and BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra in the toolkit row for allegedly "forging" the letterhead of the AICC Research Department and printing "false and fabricated" content.

The BJP had hit out at the Congress on Tuesday over an alleged toolkit of the Opposition party, saying that it wanted to tarnish the image of the country and Prime Minister Narendra Modi by calling the new strain of Covid-19 the "India strain" or the "Modi strain".

Also read: BJP claims it found author of Congress 'toolkit'; Opposition accuses govt of 'cynical politics'

The Congress responded and accused the BJP of propagating a "fake toolkit" to defame it.

The case for "spreading fake news" and "promoting enmity between classes" was filed at the Civil Lines Police Station on the complaint of Akash Sharma, state chief of the NSUI.

Sharma alleged that BJP leaders had circulated fabricated content using a fake letterhead.

Also read: Congress instructed to call new Covid strain Modi strain, BJP alleges

The purpose of spreading this fake content was to divert the attention from the Modi Government's mammoth failure to help people during the Covid-19 pandemic, alleged Sharma.

The case was registered under IPC sections 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 505(1)(b) (circulating rumour or report with intent to cause fear or alarm).

The opposition BJP in the state said the Congress's attempt to save face by registering an FIR would not work.

Senior BJP MLA Brijmohan Agrawal said the Congress had allegedly created a toolkit to defame the prime minister and the country. When it was exposed, it was trying to save face by lodging FIRs, he said.