Suvendu’s social media ‘alert’ to police proves to be a dud

Baruipur: A social media post by Bengal leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday, alerting West Bengal Police and NIA of the "presence of two Kashmiri individuals" at a Baruipur address who had installed "Nanobeam 2AC high-performance wireless network bridge" on their roof, took police to the doorstep of two engineers from MP. The antenna, cops found, was a conventional device used in multiple households across Kolkata. Police issued an alert urging people not to be provoked by misleading posts.
Putting the address on X, Adhikari wrote: "I would request the Director General of Police, West Bengal, and NIA to look into it and find out whether any suspicious activity is going on."

Acting on this, police questioned the duo. They said the two — one a Hindu and the other a Muslim — were residents of MP. Both engineers, they were exploring business opportunities in pisciculture in Bengal through a local friend. They had bought 9 bigha of land for the purpose and rented the flat about three weeks ago.
Baruipur SP Prakash Chandra Dhali said: "As soon as we got the information, we started investigating. The two persons residing in the flat were called in and interrogated. One of them is a civil engineer and the other a computer engineer. They graduated in 2016 from Bhopal. They rented a 2BHK apartment and installed a JioFiber for internet connection on April 22."
In a statement, Baruipur police said: "It is unfortunate that some people choose to disseminate such inaccurate and potentially inciteful information through social media, instead of communicating it to a state or central agency. We expect citizens to exercise restraint and responsibility while using public platforms without jumping to any conclusions. All citizens are encouraged to share any information of any suspicious activity, but not through social media posts. Information of this kind shared through social media handles defeats the very purpose. It also merits mention that any kind of public insinuation against any individual without verifying the facts is legally punishable."
Baruipur Paschim MLA and speaker Biman Banerjee said: "I don't know why the leader of opposition is trying to instigate violence. He also burnt the Pakistan flag and raised slogans on Hinduism. He doesn't realise that Hindus reside in Bangladesh and Pakistan. They can be attacked. It is very unfortunate."