Infosys Techie Arrested For Controversial Coronavirus Post

The Central Crime Branch on Friday arrested a techie working with Infosys in Bengaluru for allegedly spreading hate messages about coronavirus on social media.

In a Facebook post uploaded on Friday, Mujeeb Mohammed, who is in his 30s, put up a Facebook post calling for people to sneeze in public and spread the virus. "Let's join hands, go out and sneeze with an open mouth in public. Spread the virus," he wrote.

CCB sleuths arrested the techie on Friday after taking suo motu cognisance and registered a case against him under section 505 (making statement which causes alarm or fear in public, and also inciting & provokes others) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Infosys has also terminated his employment.

"A man uploaded a post on social media telling people to go and sneeze in public. The post has been taken down. The man works in a software company. He is a resident of Bengaluru and worked in a senior position in the company," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Patil said.

Infosys had earlier on Thursday said in a tweet that they were investigating the matter. "We are deeply concerned with an inappropriate post being attributed to an Infosys employee. We strongly reaffirm our commitment to responsible social-sharing. Our preliminary enquiry, and discussions with our employees suggest that this could be a case of mistaken identity."

The company further stated that due to the seriousness of the situation, an independent investigation was launched and appropriate action would be taken against the employee.

On Friday, the company tweeted that the probe had been completed and contrary to earlier claims, it was allegedly not a case of mistaken identity.

"Infosys has completed its investigation on the social media post by one of its employees and we believe that this is not a case of mistaken identity. The social media post by the employee is against Infosys' code of conduct and its commitment to responsible social sharing. Infosys has a zero tolerance policy towards such acts and has accordingly, terminated the services of the employee," the company tweeted on Friday night.

This story was first published on The News Minute.