Bengaluru: Home Minister Priyank Kharge faces a police complaint over a social media post allegedly linking the RSS to the seizure of 44,250 live cartridges in Bihar and Haryana.Tejas A Gowda lodged the complaint at Banashankari police station on Tuesday, accusing Priyank of spreading misinformation, misleading the public and attempting to disturb social harmony. He urged police to register an FIR against the minister but police has so far not acted on it..The complaint alleges that Priyank’s post on X sought to associate the RSS with the ammunition seizure and create the impression that the organisation was linked to illegal activities.Gowda alleged that the minister had deliberately shared false information despite knowing it was incorrect, potentially creating public confusion and disturbing social harmony. He also questioned the conduct of the Home Minister, whose responsibility includes maintaining law and order.The complainant sought action under Sections 192, 196 and 353 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, dealing with provocation intended to cause a riot, promoting enmity between groups and statements leading to public mischief, respectively.Seeking an independent probe without political interference, Gowda urged police to preserve electronic records of Kharge’s posts, obtain details of the cases from Bihar and Haryana police and examine whether misinformation had been deliberately circulated.BJP MP Tejasvi Surya too took to social media platform ‘X’ accusing the minister of “peddling fake news”. “We have a fake news peddler as Home Minister of our state. And this bloke wanted to set up some fact-check unit or something. Sad state of affairs,” he said.Former Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao also wrote to Priyank, urging him to uphold the dignity and institutional integrity of the home department and the Karnataka Police. Rao urged the Home Minister to concentrate on the actual requirements of the police department, saying Karnataka needs substantial improvements in police infrastructure, modernisation of police stations, filling of vacancies, strengthening forensic laboratories, upgrading cybercrime investigation facilities, among other things.
