Uttar Pradesh Police lodged an FIR against Google CEO Sundar Pichai and 17 others on 6 February 2021 for allegedly publishing a video and defaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi but the Varanasi Police later removed Pichai’s name as he was not found involved in the case, reported PTI.
The complainant has claimed of receiving 8,500 death threats on his phone, after he objected to the video that was shared on a WhatsApp group and later on video streaming platform YouTube.
According to the FIR lodged at Bhelupur police station on 6 February, Google India officer Sanjay Kumar Gupta and two other top officers at Google India have been accused.
However,names of Pichai and three other top officers at Google India were removed after Varanasi Police on Friday, 12 February told PTI that they were “not involved” in the case.
Some other names who have been included in the FIR are a music label company and a few Ghazipur-based musicians who allegedly were involved in the making of the song.
The FIR has been registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 500 (defamation), 120B (party to a criminal conspiracy), and 506 (criminal intimidation). Other charges under the Information Technology Act's section 67 (for publishing or transmitting obscene material) have also been invoked against the accused, reported PTI.
However, Google has not responded yet.
(With Inputs from PTI.)
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