NEW DELHI: Mumbai Cyber Police have filed an FIR against Syed Shuja, a man who falsely claimed he could hack Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) by isolating their machine frequencies.
The complaint, lodged by the Maharashtra chief electoral officer (CEO), described Shuja’s claims as baseless and unsubstantiated.
The FIR was registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and IT Act at the Cyber Police Station in South Mumbai on November 30, following the circulation of a video in which Shuja alleged that he could manipulate EVMs during the Maharashtra elections.
The Election Commission (EC) identified Shuja as the individual in the video and emphasized that such claims are entirely false. In 2019, the EC had also directed an FIR against Shuja for similar allegations made in Delhi, where he claimed to have knowledge of EVM tampering.
Delhi and Mumbai police are actively investigating the case and taking steps to identify anyone in India involved with Shuja or complicit in spreading misinformation about EVMs.
The EC has reiterated that EVMs are secure, standalone machines that cannot connect to any network, including Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, and are tamper-proof. The Supreme Court has upheld the integrity of EVMs on multiple occasions.