Indian held in Saudi Arabia for FB post against Crown prince, wife claims account fake
A Karnataka man working in Saudi Arabia has been arrested recently for allegedly posting derogatory remarks about Saudi crown prince Mohammad Bin Salman on
Facebook.
The man, identified as Harish Bangera (32), is a native of Kundapur taluk, Udupi district. He works as an air-conditioning technician for a company in Dammam, capital of Saudi Arabia’s eastern province.
Bangera’s wife has registered a complaint with the Cyber Crime, Economic Offences & Narcotics (CEN) police station in Udupi, claiming the post was put out from a fake account.
After Bangera was arrested by the Saudi authorities, on December 21, his wife Sumana Bangera gave a complaint to the cyber police, requesting that the FB account be deleted. In her complaint, Sumana said her husband has a different Facebook account, with the name ‘Harish Bangera S’, which he has been using for the past five years.
Speaking to
indianexpress.com, Seetharam, Inspector, CEN police station, Udupi, said, “We received the complaint from Sumana regarding her husband’s Facebook account, which she claimed was fake. The account had been created on December 20. After we received the complaint, we wrote to Facebook, which deleted the account on the night of December 21. We are investigating whether it is a fake account.”
The police have sought registration and access details of the account from Facebook. They have also brought the matter to the notice of the Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, on Monday, Lavanya Ballal, the national social media co-ordinator of All India Women’s Congress, requested the secretary of Karnataka labour department, P Manivannan, to help Harish. “This man from Kundapura working in Dammam, has been arrested for posting derogatory comments about the Saudi prince and about Ram Mandir in Mecca of FB. Can we please help him sir @mani1972ias Poor guys have been misled by the RSS.”
Responding to the tweet, P Manivannan said, “Had detailed discussion with Mr Bhatti from the Indian Embassy, Riyadh. They are taking up thru diplomatic channels with utmost seriousness. However, it’s going to be a long process. Let’s hope for the best.”
https://indianexpress.com/article/c...oyal-family-wife-claims-account-fake-6183240/