This story is from April 30, 2019

Teacher, cop held for sharing fake posts on Biplab Deb'divorce'

A teacher and a constable were arrested for sharing posts about chief minister Biplab Deb's "divorce". While the constable was released on bail, the teacher has been sent to three-day police remand.
Teacher, cop held for sharing fake posts on Biplab Deb'divorce'
Representative image
AGARTALA: A teacher and a constable were arrested for sharing posts about chief minister Biplab Deb's "divorce". While the constable was released on bail, the teacher has been sent to three-day police remand.
On Friday, reports of a divorce suit filed by Biplab's wife Niti Deb on grounds of domestic violence went viral, based on a Facebook post by a former BJP IT cell worker Anupam Paul.

Niti responded and discredited these reports soon after and news portals retracted, but the reports had gone viral by then. An FIR was registered against Paul, who is on the run, and several others on charges of defamation and criminal conspiracy.
On Sunday, North Tripura police detained Jamal Hossain, a constable attached to the security details of a legislator, for sharing unverified social media posts about the "divorce". "He was released on bail but we are tracking others in the network," police added.
On the same day, police also arrested a school teacher, Saikat Talapatra, for making "obscene comments" and sharing the post. He was held at Agartala airport while he was waiting for a Kolkata-bound flight. On Monday, he was produced in a local court, which sentenced him to a three-day police remand.
Police said nine persons have been identified in the case so far. Sources indicated leaders from BJP as well as opposition parties may have been involved in the campaign.

"It is believed this was an attempt to tarnish the image of the chief minister," a senior police officer said, adding that Talapatra admitted to his involvement during interrogation.
In addition to BJP, the editor of a local TV channel Pranab Sarkar has also filed an FIR against Paul for "propagating falsehood" about his association with Sarkar and his channel. Sarkar has filed a separate complaint against a news portal for "defamatory reports" about his involvement in the social media campaign about Deb's divorce.
In another FIR, filed at West Agartala police station, one Sunit Sarkar has accused the owner of a news website, Soumen Sarkar, of spreading rumors and making objectionable information against chief minister and his wife under sections 120 (B), 501, 509, 384 of IPC and 57th section of the IT Act.
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