Man arrested for posting fake letter from President on Facebook

A year after a case was registered against the director of a management college in Bengaluru for allegedly posting a fake letter from the President of India on his Facebook account, the man was arrested, police said on Friday.

The accused, Hari Krishna Maram, aged between 45-50, was in the US for more than a year but returned to Bengaluru this month and was arrested by Cyber Crime Cell of Delhi Police on Wednesday, they added.

The case was being investigated by sub-inspector Bhanu Pratap of the cyber cell after a complaint was filed by the president’s press secretary last year.

Maram had allegedly posted the photo of an “appreciation letter” received from the president for a book he had authored on digital marketing, said an officer privy to the probe.

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The letter was fake and Maram had posted the letter to gain publicity and more eyeballs for the book he had supposedly written, the officer said.

At the time of the registration of the case, Maram was in the US and was contacted but he did not join investigation.

A city court had issued a non-bailable warrant against him and police had even initiated proceedings to declare him a proclaimed offender, he added.

The accused was running a management school in Bengaluru and has an MBA degree and a B.Pharma.

He was produced in a city court on Thursday that sent him to judicial custody. Police have seized the laptop computer used to prepare the forged letter and have sent it for forensic examination.