Amid what looks like a steep rise in cyber frauds, often involving hefty sums of money, which require extensive investigation, the cyber wing of the police seems to be burdened with a different task these days — deal with a set of complaints involving political leaders or party supporters.
While the latest such case, registered over a complaint by CPI(M) leader in Ernakulam K.J. Shine over the alleged slanderous remarks made against her on cyberspace, has grabbed wider attention, with the police acting swiftly and arresting YouTuber K.M. Shajahan, first information reports (FIRs) registered this year show that the cyber wing of the City police has been dealing with more complaints involving politicians.
The cases under investigation by the Cyber Crime Police, Kochi City, include a defamation complaint filed by Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden, incidentally the opponent of Ms. Shine in the Lok Sabha elections held last year. The case registered over Mr. Eden’s complaint pertains to the alleged slanderous comments made against him through social media over the Munambam land dispute. The FIR was filed on January 15, 2025.
While the complaint was filed against an unnamed owner of a particular X handle, the city cyber police last month recorded a case suo motu against controversial YouTuber T.P. Nandakumar for allegedly making obscene remarks against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in a video.
“A person was arrested and released in the case related to Mr. Eden’s complaint, while Mr. Nandakumar has moved a court in Kozhikode for anticipatory bail,” an officer with the cyber police said.
Two similar cases were registered at the cyber police station based on complaints filed by two senior television journalists this year. While the first case, registered on January 4, 2025, is related to an alleged fake content published through a Facebook page titled ‘CPI(M) Kerala Cyber Wing’, the second case has been booked over contents circulated through a WhatsApp group named ‘UDF Family Club (Mission 2025)‘.
A probe is on into a complaint registered by former Muvattupuzha MP P.C. Thomas too over the alleged hacking of his WhatsApp account.
Published – September 28, 2025 01:46 am IST
