Ramachandrapuram (East Godavari): A fake Whatsapp post has created a storm in East Godavari district today. T Varalakshmi is working as a teacher in Anganwadi school. A few days ago, she received a Whatsapp post on her mobile that a five-month-old baby was kidnapped and used for begging. The post said some people discovered this and the post should be forwarded to at least 10 members with two mobile numbers given below the post.

Without doubting the authenticity of the news and with an intention to help the baby, Varalakshmi forwarded the post to some people.

Forwarding the post without fact-checking, turned out to be a mistake.Trollers started blaming Varalakshmi and began harassing her. They even said that the baby is with Varalakshmi who is working as a anganwadi teacher. This post reached the district officials.

The district collector and ICDS instructed the revenue department to look into the matter. They in turn started demanding Varalakshmi to return the baby. She pleaded explaining that she forwarded the post out of a sense of humanity. Unable to explain and bear the harassment, she approached the police. SI Sheik Shabeer said that they called the phone numbers given in the Whatsapp post but both the mobile numbers were switched off. Police is investigating the matter.

Also Read: Soon You Maybe Able To Flag Fake News On WhatsApp