Police in Varanasi of Uttar Pradesh accused Google CEO Sundar Pichai and 17 others this week over a video alleged to have demeaned Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, they later deleted the names of the tech giant officials from the FIR, police officials said today.
After discovering that they were not involved in the investigation, the names of Sundar Pichai and three other top Google officials were deleted, a police official privy to the investigation told the news agency Press Trust of India over the phone.
Subsequent to a protest by a local citizen, the First Information Report or FIR was filed. He said that after he opposed the content that presented through a video that he first came across in a WhatsApp community. After this, later on, YouTube, where it has over five lakh views, he got over 8,500 threat calls on his mobile phone, the officials said.
In addition to Sundar Pichai, three Google India officials, including Sanjay Kumar Gupta, are others identified in the FIR, according to the case filed on February 6 at UP’s Bhelupur police station.
Is Google Replying On This?
Everyone is waiting for Google to comment on this situation of its involvement in the case. People have already taken the matter to social media and especially, Twitter.
Ghazipur district-based musicians are one of the others mentioned in the FIR who reportedly made the video album, a recording studio, and a local music label company.
The FIR was lodged under sections 504 of the Indian Penal Code (an intentional insult in order to provoke breach of peace), 506 (criminal intimidation), 500 (defamation), 120B (party to a criminal conspiracy). FIR was filed just after intense propaganda expressed by the local citizen in UP.
Section 67 (publishing or distributing obscene material) charges under the Information Technology Act were also invoked against the accused, according to the FIR, which was obtained by the news agency Press Trust of India.
The FIR deleted the names of Google officials the same day as it turned out that they were not involved in the case. Investigations are underway on other grounds, an official from the local Bhelupur police station told PTI news agency.
