On Monday, the Cyberabad Cyber Crime Police registered a criminal case against a Twitter user for allegedly sharing ‘fake news’ on social media platforms with the ‘intention of disrupting communal harmony’.

The netizen who goes by the name Major Neelam Singh (retd) and ‘theskindoctor13’ as their Twitter handle shared a forged newspaper clipping of a Hyderabad daily, with the headline ‘Cyberabad police bans the sale of oranges in the city'. The clipping also featured a photograph of police officials, including Commissioner VC Sajjanar at a press conference with oranges on their desk.

Captioned as, “Wtf! Is it true @cyberabadpolice ?”, the image mentioned “satire by @theskindoctor13” at the bottom. The account which has over 2.7 lakh followers posted the tweet on April 26, which was liked by 17.1k users and retweeted by 5,572 before being deleted.

A press release from the Cyberabad police stated that the action was taken as the Twitter user mentions Cyberabad police banning the sale and consumption of oranges in the city as the saffron colour of the fruit hurts the sentiments of Muslims.

According to a report by The Indian Express, the same user owns two Twitter and, two Instagram handles as well. Commissioner Sajjanar told the daily that the accused has been traced to Chandigarh and is yet to be contacted.

Meanwhile the ‘Skin Doctor’ shared a tweet stating, “Cyberabad police has filed a case against me for a satire. A satire they perceived as "fake news" despite a disclaimer. How absurd it is! Any lawyer friend who can help me with this? Also, one more request. If anyone can find out the FIR number so that I can proceed accordingly.”