20 October,2026 01:58 PM IST | Kolkata | mid-day online correspondent
Representational image. File pic
Ainul Haque, a resident of the Cooch Behar district in West Bengal, has been arrested on charges of making a misleading social media post about the number of people killed in the tragic stampede in Kolkata.
The stampede incident took place at the Chorbagan Sarbojanin community Durga Puja pandal on the night of October 17.
As per IANS, investigating officials in the matter suspect that there may have been Bangladeshi links.
While the number of people killed in the stampede was 19, Ainul Haque had claimed that the number was higher, in a social media post.
An insider from the state police said that some specific clues hinting towards Bangladeshi links of the arrested youth had already been procured by the sleuths of the Special Task Force (STF) probing the matter, and the investigating officers are digging the matter further to procure further clues in this regard, as per IANS.
The investigating officers are now interrogating him and trying to extract his exact intention behind making such a misleading post regarding that tragedy of such a magnitude.
Haque had been accused of sharing an old video of a similar mishap anywhere else and also claimed that not 19 but 60 people had been killed in the stampede on Saturday night.
The investigating officers in the matter doubt that the video that he shared on social media might be related to an incident in Bangladesh.
An official said that the accused had been charged under Section 353(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023, which penalises making, publishing, or circulating false statements or reports that are likely to create enmity, hatred, or ill-will between different groups.
Meanwhile, while speaking to the media on Tuesday morning, the state panchayat affairs and rural development minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s former national vice-president, Dilip Ghosh, said that he, too, had doubts about some foreign links of the arrested individual.
Ghosh said, "Such people are causing trouble everywhere and trying to disrupt peace. Some of them are agents of Bangladesh, while some are agents of Nepal. They are plotting unrest in India. Besides, money has been flowing into West Bengal through them for a long time. It is still flowing in."
The BJP leader also added, "However, the administration is keeping an eye on everything. No one will be spared. Anyone who is involved in wrongdoing will be punished," as cited by IANS.
The sleuths of the cybercrime division of the Kolkata Police have already started tracking attempts to spread through social media misinformation about the stampede tragedy.
The fake posts on social media platforms might have cautioned the general public to refrain from spreading misinformation about the tragedy through social media or even share any post made in the matter without cross-verification.
(With inputs from IANS)
