Bengaluru cybercrime police have registered a case over an alleged fake sting video targeting former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, opening an investigation into the use of a false social-media identity to create and circulate fabricated content.
The case was registered on charges including identity theft, forgery, extortion and criminal conspiracy. The complaint alleges that serious accusations against Siddaramaiah were created and published with the intention of damaging his public reputation.
The complaint relates to a purported sting operation filmed in 2023 and recently broadcast by some local television channels. The video refers to alleged incidents from 2011, when Siddaramaiah was the Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly. The authenticity of the video and the identity of its creator have not yet been established.
According to the complaint, the content was circulated through a YouTube channel reportedly associated with the handle ‘Karnataka Honeytrap’. The complainant has asked the police to identify the person operating the channel and others involved in creating, publishing and distributing the alleged defamatory material.
The police case invokes provisions of the Information Technology Act relating to identity theft and provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita covering offences such as forgery, extortion and criminal conspiracy. The allegations remain subject to investigation and have not been established in court.
The complaint comes amid a wider controversy over videos targeting Siddaramaiah, which has drawn attention to the way politically sensitive material can be produced and amplified through digital platforms before its origins or authenticity are verified. Police are reportedly tracing social-media accounts and Internet Protocol addresses linked to the circulation of the videos.
More than five people have reportedly been questioned as part of the wider investigation, according to sources cited in the report. The police have not disclosed the identities of those questioned or confirmed whether any arrests have been made.
Siddaramaiah has sought police action against those responsible for what he described as false propaganda. Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh is supervising the investigation. The police have not disclosed further details of the probe, including the steps being taken to establish who created the video, how it was circulated and whether multiple people were involved.
