A day after he filed an FIR against Tripura chief minister Biplab Deb for allegedly spreading fake COVID-19 news, Congress leader Gopal Roy has been slapped with charges of alleged forgery.
The case pertained to use of the national emblem on Roy’s letterhead.
Senior Congress leader Gopal Roy had filed a complaint against chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb, accusing him of spreading fake information regarding the spread of coronavirus.
Also read: Tripura police ‘harass’ Congress leader for filing FIR against CM Biplab Deb
Roy claimed that the chief minister had told at a press conference that 19 coronavirus cases were detected in Manipur and 16 in Assam.
He said Manipur actually had only two cases and Assam one on Tuesday, the day Deb addressed the Press.
Roy asked for legal action against the chief minister for allegedly spreading ‘fake information’.
But late on Sunday, advocate Arabinda Deb filed a police complaint accusing Gopal Roy with forgery and criminal conspiracy to malign the image of the chief minister.
Also read: COVID-19: ‘Fake news’ case lodged against Tripura CM
“We got the complaint against Gopal Roy on Saturday late night. The complaint was lodged by an advocate of West Tripura District Court who charged Roy under Section 120(b) (criminal conspiracy) and 469 (forgery) of Indian Penal Code. It is cognizable offence,” said officer in-charge of New Capital Complex (NCC) police station.
The advocate, in his complaint, accused Roy of using national emblem to malign the chief minister.
“The complaint was received at West Superintendent of Police office on Saturday. It came to us on Sunday evening. Inquiry is on. For proceeding on such complaints, we need to get permission from the magistrate. The process has started. Case is not registered yet,” the officer in-charge of the police station said.
Roy later told the media that the police searched his house without warrant.
“It is a plot to murder me. This happened as I had filed complaint against the CM. I will knock the high court soon,” the Congress leader said.