An FIR has been registered against Congress President Sonia Gandhi in Karnataka's Shivamogga over allegedly "misleading tweets" by the party on 11 May on the PM-CARES fund, ANI reported on Thursday, 21 May.
The FIR identifies Gandhi as the handler of the social media account and has been filed under sections 153 and 505 of the Indian Penal Code, reports said. The probe is underway.
"They called PM-CARES fund a fraud. They said on their Twitter that it is not being used for public and that the PM is going on foreign trips using this fund. These are rumours against the government in the situation of COVID-19, so I filed a complaint (against Sonia Gandhi) [sic]," Advocate KV Praveen Kumar was quoted by ANI as saying.
Karnataka Congress Chief DK Shivakumar wrote to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Thursday, 21 May, demanding the FIR be withdrawn, reported ANI. In his letter, Shivakumar reportedly said that the complaint was filed with a political motive on false information.
On 11 May, the party's Twitter handle, @INCIndia, had put out a series of tweets on the PM-CARES fund, using the hashtag 'PMCareFraud'.
PM-CARES was formed on 27 March this year, three days into the lockdown, and is headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Other ex-officio members of the trust are Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
On 13 May, the PM's Office announced that the PM-CARES Fund Trust allocated Rs 3,100 crore for the fight against COVID-19. Out of Rs 3,100 crores, a sum of approximately Rs 2,000 crore will be earmarked for the purchase of ventilators, Rs 1,000 crores will be used for care of migrant labourers and Rs 100 crores will be given to support vaccine development, the PMO had said.
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