‘Got influenced by Republic Television’: Delhi advocate regrets spreading fake news on Sushant Singh Rajput death

A Mumbai court has granted bail to Delhi-based lawyer Vibhor Anand who was arrested last month by Mumbai police on charges of spreading conspiracy theories on the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and making allegations against Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. The Mumbai court granted him bail after he said he would tender an apology online. According to a report in Live Law, Vibhor reportedly told the court that he “got influenced by Republic TV and its anchor who stated that both Sushant Singh Rajput and Disha Salian had been murdered.” The Additional Sessions Judge DE Kothalikar granted him bail after Vibhor submitted to the court that he repents what he did and that he will tender an apology online. The court granted him bail against a personal bond of Rs 50,000.

Vibhor was arrested by Mumbai police’s cyber crime cell. He had been booked under Sections 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 505(2) (Statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes), 500 (Defamation), 504 ( Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code as well as Section 67 of IT Act (Punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form). According to Mumbai Mirror, during his bail hearing, Vibhor’s lawyer Ashok Saraogi told the court that Anand had been watching TV channels, in particular Republic TV and R Bharat, to keep himself up-to-date on the Sushant case and that he was “made to believe” that the statements on news channels were true. He stated that he had only taken the names of various persons that were also broadcast on the said channels.

The Delhi based advocate also peddled lies about Disha Salian, the late actor's manager who died six days before the Kedarnath star. In his social media posts about Disha Salian’s death, Vibhor Anand had also mentioned the names of actor Arbaaz Khan, Ekta Kapoor and others. 14 Twitter accounts, including one owned by Vibhor Anand, that posted theories regarding Disha's death and events leading to her death. The lawyer was arrested on the basis of a complaint filed on August 12 at the Cyber police station. The complaint termed Vibhor Anand’s social media posts grossly obscene in nature and said that they outraged the modesty of a woman. According to sources, Vibhor Anand, through Youtube live sessions, named Actor Arbaaz Khan, Showik Chakraborty, Maharashtra Tourism Minister Aditya Thackeray and said that a party was organised by Ekta Kapoor and Disha Salian was brought to the party. This party took place just before Disha’s death. The advocate allegedly levelled several such allegations against the people named.