The Maharashtra cyber crime branch has filed a police case against Flipkart, online marketplaces and other e-commerce platforms for selling T-shirts glorifying gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, officials said on Thursday.

According to the release, the state’s cyber wing has filed a case under various Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections, including 192 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 196 (promoting enmity between different groups) and 353 (public mischief) and provisions of the Information Technology Act.

During the online vigil, the cyber security officials found that several e-commerce platforms, including Flipkart, AliExpress, and marketplaces like TeeShopper and Etsy, had been selling T-shirts that glorify gangsters like Lawrence Bishnoi and Dawood Ibrahim.

The statement said the cyber unit has filed the case not only against the platforms that hosted these listings, but also against the sellers responsible for listing these objectionable products.

An official said, “The products, which idolise criminal figures, pose a significant risk to the society by promoting a distorted image (of values) which could influence young minds negatively.”

In its release, the cyber unit said it considers this as material harmful, as it attempts to corrupt the values of the youth by using seemingly casual apparel to spread messages that glorify criminal lifestyles.

Earlier, another popular e-commerce platform Meesho faced backlash from people for selling t-shirts branded with Bishnoi.

Filmmaker and journalist Alishan Jafri, taking to X, highlighted the issue and called it an example of India’s latest online radicalisation.

“People are literally selling gangster merchandise on platforms like @Meesho_Official and Teeshopper. This is just one example of India’s latest online radicalisation,” he wrote on X.

In a series of posts, he pointed out various concerning incidence that he came accrosed. “For much of October, I was following India’s online gangster fan groups. At a time when the police and NIA are struggling to stop youths from joining gang crime, social media influencers are making quick money by promoting gang content and glorifying gangsters,” he said.

The Wikimedia Foundation said on Thursday that it has not received any official notice from the Indian government pertaining to its content.

The statement from the Wikimedia Foundation comes days after reports citing government sources, reported that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had issued a notice to Wikipedia casting aspersions about bias and inaccuracies in its articles. However, there was no official communication from the Indian government on the matter.

According to the alleged notice, the Government of India questioned Wikipedia over multiple complaints about bias and inaccuracies on the platform. The government in its alleged letter to Wikipedia noted that a small group of editors appears to have significant control over the contents, particularly influencing its neutrality. 

The government also questioned why Wikipedia should not be classified as a publisher, rather than an intermediary.

In a statement, the platform spokesperson said: “The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that operates Wikipedia, has not received any official notice from the Indian government regarding editing practices or the accuracy of content on Wikipedia in the last two days.”

The statement further noted that Wikipedia volunteers carefully curate information from reliable news sources and other reputable external publications and they don’t add original content to the site.  

It added that such an approach ensures that Wikipedia compiles information from credible sources. “All sources are cited on article pages, upholding our commitment to transparency,” said the spokesperson.

“More than 850 million Indians visit the site every month, the fifth highest in the world,” the statement said. “Globally, more than 260,000 volunteers contribute content to the site,” the statement added.

It also mentioned that Indian Wikipedia editors are constantly ranked as “one of the top number of contributing editors from a single country globally.

Furthermore, the statement said that the platform articles are required by its editorial policies to maintain a neutral point of view, adding volunteers from many backgrounds and political persuasions to edit Wikipedia.

“This model reinforces that Wikipedia articles present a broad view of knowledge about a topic, rather than any one perspective,” the spokesperson said.

This development occurs alongside ongoing legal proceedings involving WF in a defamation lawsuit filed by news agency ANI regarding its Wikipedia page, which describes the news agency as a “propaganda tool for the incumbent government.” In its lawsuit, ANI has requested the identities of three anonymous editors who made changes to the page. It’s important to note that WF has no physical presence in India.

The Mumbai police recently received a call from a person threatening to kill Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan and demanded Rs 50 lakh from him. The phone call was received from a mobile number registered in the name of one Faizan Khan from Raipur, Chhattisgarh. Reportedly, a case was filed at the Bandra Police Station on Thursday.

The Police have interrogated a man, identified as Faizan Khan, in connection with the death threat. Nonetheless, during questioning, Khan claimed he was an advocate and his phone was stolen on November 2, reports said. He also claimed that he had filed a complaint regarding it and someone misused it to threaten Shah Rukh Khan.

Reports also stated that the caller told the police to call him Hindustani when he was questioned about his identity and location. The call was received on November 5 at around 1.20 pm.

The Bollywood actor had also received a death threat in October last year, following which his security was amplified to the Y+ level. This security ensures he is accompanied by six armed personnel around the clock. Earlier he had two security personnel, also armed, accompanying him.

The death threat to the Jawan star comes days after Salman Khan received a threat from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which has been targeting Salman over his alleged involvement in the killing of a black buck. The gang said that the actor should either visit a temple and apologise for allegedly killing a black buck or pay Rs 5 crore instead.

Later a man, identified as Bhikharam Jalaram Bishnoi was arrested in Karnataka for issuing the threat to Salman Khan. The Mumbai Police’s Traffic Control unit said that they received a message from a person claiming to be gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother on Monday, who said Salman Khan would be killed if he didn’t do what he was told.

Salman Khan also received a similar death threat from an unknown person on October 30, who had demanded a Rs 2 crore ransom from him. His security cover was amped up following the murder of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique on October 12. Baba Siddique was killed outside his son’s office when he was bursting firecrackers on the occasion of Dussehra.