Kolkata: The criminal investigation department (CID) has arrested three youth and detained another for allegedly spreading a rumor, written in Bengali, through WhatsApp about the outbreak of “morphine virus” at Bon-gaon in North 24 Parga-nas. CID deputy inspector general (operation) Nishat Parvez said that the state detective agency came to know about the rumor on Friday night.

“To make the message look genuine, quotes attributed to doctors in the area were also incorporated in the WhatsApp message and it was attributed to the state government. It also claimed in the message that this virus spreads through local fish,” Mr Parvez said.

“The CID and North 24 Parganas district police jointly identified that the rumour was being spread from WhatsApp group ‘Bangaon Local’ and arrested all the three group admin — Amit Dutta, Avi Kundu and Abrajit Roy. One of the group members, Sanjib Biswas, who forwarded this message to more than 200 WhatsApp users, was detained also.” All the four are residents of Bongaon,” he added.

“Prima facie it is found that the fake message has also spread to Bankura and Chinsurah (Hoog-hly). Investigation in the case are underway. Any member of public wishing to inform the police about such messages that are being spread to create panic is requested to inform OC Cyber Patrol Cell at +91 86979 85495,” he added.