Claim: The latest message doing rounds states that the 52 WhatsApp group admins are detained at Dadar's cybercrime police station for forwarding misleading information to their groups. The message also says that each group admin will face a jail term of 1 to 5 years and for securing bail, they would have to fight in criminal court. No explanation by any admin would be taken into account. Further, the message says that only a government agency is authorised to post things about the COVID-19 crisis. If the posts are found wrong or misleading, action would be taken against all the members of that group including the admin, and a lawsuit will be registered in their names according to the IT Act. The message also mentions that it is by the order by Ravi Nayak, the principal secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.
Fact-check: 100 fake COVID-19 WhatsApp forwards that we almost believed - First Check
Verdict: the message is false as there is no person named ravi nayak in the government to pass any such orders.
Organisation: First Check
Author: Deepika Khurana
Date published: 2020-06-12T00:13:42