Police have arrested two men for spreading fake news and rumours about a police official on Facebook.
The arrested are Mamun Hossain Rubel and Shahporan Alam Khan Rabbi.
Confirming the matter, Faridgonj Police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Abdur Rakib said they were arrested from Gojariya village in Chandpur’s Faridgonj on Thursday around 10:30pm.
Police also seized the devices they used to spread the rumours.
A case has been filed against them under the Digital Security Act, the OC added.
According to a police statement, on April 29 at 4:08am, a post on a fake Facebook account with a female name of Jarine Afrine Ruma, said the OC of Faridgonj police station raped a young woman with promises of providing relief material.
Chandpur district police and the cyber team of Bangladesh Police started investigating the matter after the post came to their attention.
However, the account holder admitted their guilt and apologized in another Facebook post from that account.
According to that post, the account holder made the first post at the instigation of another local man in order to question and spread rumours about the Bangladesh Police and its service during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Facebook post about the OC raping someone was totally fabricated as the owner of the account did not know the supposedly raped woman, nor did they even know anyone by that name.
The account holder downloaded an unknown girl’s picture from the internet and added it to the post on the local man’s suggestion. He apologized for the whole matter and said he was ashamed.
