As the election campaigning is reaching a feverish pitch, the opposition, and its ecosystem, on multiple occasions, have been caught spreading misleading claims, clipped videos to run smear campaigns, and political propaganda along with fake news. In a major crackdown on misinformation/disinformation, a man named Reetam Singh, who is the “war room coordinator” in Congress’ Assam unit, was arrested on 29th April for circulating a fake video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Taking to X, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed about Singh’s arrest as he wrote, “Assam police have arrested an individual named Sri Reetom Singh in connection with the fake video involving Honorable Home Minister Sri @Amit Shah.”
The details of this case can be read by clicking here.
Nonetheless, it is pertinent to note that this is not the first time that Reetam Singh has been caught breaching Indian laws, he earned notoriety during the anti-CAA protest that broke out in 2019.
Time and again, the former NSUI functionary has been found leading smear campaigns, unleashing online lynch mobs, issuing threats of physical harm, ‘retribution’ and doxxing the private information of dissenters, particularly targeting OpIndia’s Editor-in-Chief Nupur J Sharma. Nupur Sharma had once highlighted the role of Singh and ilks in orchestrating and fanning the anti-CAA protests, that turned violent in many places and culminated in the anti-Hindu Delhi riots 2020.
Finally, complaint officially filed against @nsui member Reetam Singh who had threatened me after I published my story. pic.twitter.com/bXA0W55Siz
— Nupur J Sharma (@UnSubtleDesi) January 2, 2020
The OpIndia Editor-in-Chief had filed a complaint against Singh on 24th December 2019 for leaking her private information to the public and issuing threats of “teaching her a lesson” and “violating her in public openly”.
Reetam Singh had spent years targeting Nupur J Sharma for exposing his involvement in the anti-CAA protests
Notably, on 16th December 2019, OpIndia had published an article titled, “Who is instigating violence in colleges: Congress, NSUI, a sinister WhatsApp group, and anti-CAA protests”. In her article, Nupur Sharma highlighted how she observed a WhatsApp group that was coordinating and planning protests against CAA in Law Universities.
The article had also highlighted the role of the admins of this secretive anti-CAA protestors’ WhatsApp group. Incidentally, one of the admins was Reetam Singh, the man arrested today for peddling a fake video of Home Minister Amit Shah.
Back then, Reetam Singh was associated with the student arm of the Congress party. He was the RTI Cell Coordinator for NSUI (National Students Union of India).
A day later, OpIndia had highlighted the chat exchanges in the controversial group.
In the investigative reports, OpIndia had exposed that contrary to the claims that anti-CAA protests were “spontaneous”, there was a sinister plot to promote anarchy, and it was carefully coordinated by the Congress party. The report highlighted how it was Reetam Singh who came up with the tactics of “using girls as the first line of defense” to ensure that the ‘students’ are safe. “Police would never touch them,” he had said.
Additionally, it’s also important to remember that an intelligence report shared with the Ministry of Home Affairs had stated that some ‘political parties’, and banned radical Islamist outfits like SIMI and PFI were behind the violent protests in several places across the country.
Soon after the article was published, Reetam Singh started targeting Nupur J Sharma for carrying the investigating report against him and his ilks. From threats of legal action to silence OpIndia’s Editor-in-Chief Nupur J Sharma, Singh went further to threaten her of causing harm – “violate her in public openly”, in case she persisted with the story. Disgruntled with the expose, he also went on to leak private information including the details of her parents and the address of Nupur J Sharma, for which the latter filed a Police complaint against him.
This “will have consequences” threats don’t scare me @nsui. Stick to brainwashing college kids. That’s what you seem to be half decent athttps://t.co/PZWZHpLFX1
— Nupur J Sharma (@UnSubtleDesi) December 17, 2019
Here are some. He outed my address. Details of my parents. And said that I will be “taught a lesson” and that he will “v!olate me in public” @nsui pic.twitter.com/hcDjhyaSa1
— Nupur J Sharma (@UnSubtleDesi) December 17, 2019
Post context – Congress party functionary Reetam Singh threatens OpIndia Editor-in-Chief Nupur J Sharma that he will find her just like the CIA found Bin Laden, alluding to the CIA manhunt and killing of dreaded terrorist Osama Bin Laden, a direct threat to kill her. The posts targeting Sharma continues around 5 years down the line after she published the investigative report exposing the likes of Reetam Singh in planning anti-CAA protests.
Singh, associated with the Congress party, had also issued death and rape threats against Nupur Sharma on several occasions as well as name-called her with deranging slurs, including equating her with terrorists, wishing for ill/diseases to catch up to her, and threats of retribution, and ‘hell’ when their supportive government comes to power at the Centre.
After issuing death and rape threats, he is now calling me a porn star or prostitute or something. Let me state on record that he works with Congress leader @manickamtagore.
— Nupur J Sharma (@UnSubtleDesi) December 26, 2019
Read the story that has got this functionary of Congress and NSUI so riled up https://t.co/U2tjahbieE https://t.co/muY6HIEXw5
As Assam Police arrested Assam Congress’s “war room coordinator”, Reetam Singh over several charges, including circulating morphed videos of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, it appears that the law has finally caught up with him for his intimidatory, threatening, malevolent, and anti-national tendencies.
