GD filed over fake photocard circulating online in name of  state minister

A General Diary (GD) has been filed with Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Ramna Model Police Station (PS) over allegations of defamation involving a fake photocard circulated on social media in the name of State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Anindya Islam Amit.

The GD was lodged by the State Minister's Private Secretary (Deputy Secretary) Md Shahidul Islam on his behalf Mohammad Rahat Khan, officer-in-charge (OC) of the PS, confirmed the matter.  

PS OC said  the complaint was filed on Sunday evening; the case has since been forwarded to the cyber unit of the detactive branch for investigation; and authorities are currently examining the issue.

According to the GD, the matter came to light when the complainant was in Segunbagicha area, where he was informed by a close associate that a person or group had created a fake photocard using the State Minister's picture and was spreading false information through a Facebook group named "Gen Z (FS Gaming)."

The fabricated photo card falsely quoted the State Minister as saying: "Last night, I visited at least 10 fuel pumps in Dhaka; I did not observe any crowd or fuel shortage anywhere."

The complaint clarified that the State Minister did not visit any fuel stations that night and made no such statement. 

Instead, he has been actively working to dealing with the impact of the global fuel crisis on the country. As part of these efforts, he had recently visited Matarbari in Chattogram and Cox's Bazar to inspect fuel and power infrastructure before returning to Dhaka on Sunday afternoon.