Viral audio clips on lockdown rules attributed to Mumbai police commissioner fake, under scanner

After the clip went viral, several people had expressed concern. Malad-resident Juhi Kaur, who reportedly had received the audio message, ascribed to the police commissioner, in the WhatsApp group of her housing society members, said, “We have been using our car to go to the market to get supplies. After we got the message, everyone in the building was worried. A few days later, I found that the message was fake.”

In a second 2.20-minute audio clip, a person purportedly claimed to have “personally received information” from the World Health Organisation and Chinese authorities that there would be a spike in coronavirus cases.

On Tuesday, Singh said, “There has been a problem where some audio notes, warning people to not step out of their houses and on the spread of coronavirus, have been spread in my name. We have clarified that these are fake on our Twitter account and are taking steps to identify the person.”

A few viral audio messages have also been falsely attributed to Nashik police commissioner Vishwas Nangre Patil and his Thane counterpart Vivek Phansalkar. Both the officers have clarified that the voice messages as fake. Patil claimed that news bytes of a journalist were being circulated by ascribing them to the commissioners.