Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh cries foul on being booked

BHOPAL: The political war before the Rajya Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh has spilled from social media into police stations. The Crime Branch of Bhopal Police on Monday registered a case against senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh and 12 others for sharing an alleged fake video involving Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

According to Bhopal Range ADG Upendra Jain, Singh has been made accused in other sections including defamation.

BJP leaders including former ministers Umashankar Gupta, Vishwas Sarang and Rameshwar Sharma had lodged a complaint against Digvijaya Singh and associates saying they had distorted a video released by Shivraj Singh Chouhan that criticised Kamal Nath government for its liquor policy. The same video was pruned into a 9-second clip to suggest the chief minister wanted the excise department to just saturate the state with liquor.

The BJP leaders complained soon after the video shared by Digvijaya Singh went viral on Twitter. Chouhan had earlier warned of action against people sharing the content. Digvijaya Singh deleted it as soon as the controversy escalated. BJP leaders slammed the fake video and said it has been released to "confuse the public".

Singh says he is being targeted for taking up the case of cheating with the tribal people by Chouhan's supporters. They should instead investigate who has manipulated the video. Singh said agents of a chit fund company in Budhni misappropriated Rs 4.5 million collected by tribals.

In 2019, the matter came to the notice of Kamal Nath government and a case was registered. However, Shivraj Singh has not been able to get justice to the victims since 2012. On the contrary, the tribals were sent to jail because the "BJP thugs" were touting for the chit fund company, Singh said.

During a visit to Amla Pani village of Nasrullaganj block in Sehore district recently he found that tribal people in a hamlet had been duped of a huge amount. He had informed Chouhan about the entire incident. In a letter he warned the Chief Minister that if there is no action he will protest at his residence.

Former chief minister Kamal Nath has come to Digvijaya's rescue now. He said that this action is malicious. If a video is edited, action should be taken against the one who produced it. (IANS)