Cyber police track ‘fake’ smear campaign against CPI(M) MP A.A. Rahim

A criminal case has been registered in Kerala after a fabricated social media post linked the Rajya Sabha MP to the state’s high-profile anti-narcotics crackdown.

The digital battlefield in Kerala has turned litigious once again. Thiruvananthapuram Cyber Police have registered a case following a formal complaint by CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP A.A. Rahim, who alleges that a coordinated misinformation campaign was launched to damage his reputation. At the heart of the complaint is a Facebook post that surfaced last week, which reportedly used the MP’s photograph alongside false claims regarding the recent ‘Operation Toofan.’

According to the police, the post falsely suggested that individuals apprehended during the state’s aggressive anti-narcotics drive were members of CPI(M)-affiliated youth wings, the SFI and DYFI. Rahim maintains that this was a deliberate fabrication intended to link him and his political circle to criminal elements.

The investigation begins

The investigation is now moving beyond the initial report. Police have identified two specific Facebook accounts—‘Sreekanth Palickathode’ and ‘Riyas Thathoth’—as the primary subjects of the inquiry. Officers are currently working to ascertain the true identities behind these handles to determine if they are authentic profiles or part of a network of bot-driven or anonymous smear accounts.

The legal net cast by the authorities is wide. The case has been registered under a combination of provisions from the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Information Technology Act, and the Kerala Police Act. By invoking these specific statutes, the state is signaling a zero-tolerance approach to what it deems ‘malicious propaganda’ circulating on social media platforms.

Why it matters

This incident highlights the escalating volatility of political discourse in Kerala, where the line between legitimate digital criticism and targeted misinformation continues to blur. For leaders like MP Rahim, the speed at which a fake post can circulate makes traditional reputation management difficult, forcing a reliance on the state’s cyber machinery to intervene.

As the state moves deeper into an era where political optics are largely dictated by viral content, the trend of public figures turning to the police to scrub their online reputation is likely to intensify. This case serves as a warning to social media users that the digital anonymity once enjoyed by political trolls is increasingly fragile. The outcome of the police investigation will likely set a precedent for how the state handles defamation in the age of rapid-fire social media misinformation.