Twitter India MD questioned in May over ‘Congress Toolkit’ case

The managing director of Twitter in India, Manish Maheshwari, was questioned by Delhi Police last month in the case involving an alleged “Congress toolkit”, sources said on Thursday. A team of the Delhi Police Special Cell was in Bengaluru on May 31 to question Maheshwari, news agency ANI reported.

The development came a week after Delhi Police teams went to Twitter’s offices in Delhi and Gurugram to follow up on two notices over BJP leader Sambit Patra’s tweet on an alleged “Congress toolkit” being marked as “manipulated media”. Twitter had been asked to explain why BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra’s tweet on May 18, which had screenshots of what he called a “Congress toolkit” aimed at discrediting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government’s handling of Covid, were labelled “manipulated media”. Government sources say that the Delhi Police’s probe is not only establishing a clearer picture of Twitter India’s links with the US-based parent company but also revealing a “complex web of corporate veil to mislead Indian law-enforcing entities”.

A decision to question Twitter India’s Managing Director was taken after Delhi Police received “evasive” responses to its notices, said top sources in the government. Twitter on Wednesday lost “safe harbour” protection in India for not complying with the directives.