Goa Forward Party leader Atanasio Monserratte today filed a complaint with cyber police after an appeal in his name not to vote for Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar in tomorrow’s Panaji by-election went viral.
GFP is BJP’s alliance partner in the Goa government. Snapshot of Twitter account of a local cable channel, citing Monserratte’s purported appeal not to vote for the BJP leader, was being circulated on social media.
`Babush (Monserratte) appeals citizens not to vote for Parrikar as he was threatened to join Goa Forward Party,” the message read.
The cable channel was quick to clarify that it was not from its Twitter account, and its “logo and brand has been misused”.
Monserratte filed a complaint with the Goa Cyber Crime Cell, seeking “immediate action and investigation”.
Some unknown people used his name and released “false and malicious news” which was “causing grave damage to me and my party (GFP)”, Monserratte said, adding that the fake message sought to mislead the voters of Panaji constituency.
Earlier, a fake message quoting Parrikar as saying that he will go back to the Centre as the defence minister if he failed to get elected from Panaji Assembly seat was being circulated on social media last week.