Within hours of his bona fide debut on Twitter, at least three fake handles representing newly sworn-in Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal were brought to the notice of Raj Niwas.
An email from someone whom a senior official from his office termed “a concerned citizen” apprised Raj Niwas that the handles @delhi_lg , @DelhiLG and @LG_Delhi were posting allegedly misleading statements critical of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
Email forwarded to police
The official said the the email was immediately forwarded to the Delhi Police for action which, according to sources, has directed the Cyber Cell to investigate the matter. Mr. Baijal’s office, through the handle @LtGovDelhi, had in fact posted his first tweet on Sunday evening.
Two of the said accounts are in Mr. Baijal’s name while the third claims it belongs to the “LG of Delhi”.
The handle @delhi_lg introduces itself as “New Delhi LG. I am here to declare null and void”, became operational in September 2016 and has 134-odd followers, the handle @DelhiLG claims “I am the Government of Delhi”, became operational in September 2013 and has 350 followers and the handle @LG_Delhi with 79 followers became operational in April 2016.
Misleading tweets
A police source said the three handles seemed to have taken to using Mr. Baijal’s name and picture as and when news of his appointment to the post got increasing confirmation in the media till the career bureaucrat was formally sworn-in on December 31.
Of the many posts, some related to the Shunglu Committee that was set up by Mr. Baijal’s predecessor Najeeb Jung to probe alleged irregularities in the functioning of the AAP government. “Mr. Jung has left behind 400 files of the Delhi government. Now I am in a dilemma as to whether to approve or return them,” reads one tweet.
Another fake handle taunted Mr. Kejriwal saying, “Sir, using such language does not behove you irrespective of differences of opinion”, referring to his criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
