The cybercrime police have arrested an Ola cab driver for spreading rumours online about the death of environmentalist, Saalumarada Thimmakka.
Pradeep Gowda is believed to have sparked the fake news by sending a dead woman’s photograph and captioning it with Thimmakka’s name. He is a native of Haradanahalli in KR Nagar taluk, Mysuru district, and lives in Balaji Layout, Byadarahalli.
N Satheesh Kumar, joint commissioner of police (crime), said:“Following a complaint filed by Umesh Vanasiri, Thimmakka’s foster son, we arrested the accused and produced him before the magistrate. He was later released on a bail.”
According to a senior police officer, the rumour began when Gowda posted the morphed image of a dead woman with that of the environmentalist on a Facebook page called Snehaloka. He also shared it on WhatsApp groups.
The officer added that people who had photoshopped the image will also be arrested and that all the members of the Facebook page were interrogated.