Mumbai, August 26: Amid the Telegram CEO's arrest in France, the Indian government has started investigating the instant messaging platform over criminal activities. After the government probe and based on the findings, Telegram could also be banned in India, said a report. The recent arrest of Pavel Durov may have made all the government including India check the platform for the charges.

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France over charges of money laundering, allowing the users to post child sexual content on the platform and drug trafficking. The action resulted in a global outage by tech leaders including Elon Musk who supported him and blamed the system for curbing free speech. Telegram CEO Pavel Durov Arrest: Instant Messaging Platform Denies Responsibility for Abuse on It, Calls Such Claims ‘Absurd’.

According to a report by Moneycontrol, a government official said that Telegram was under investigation for criminal activities such as gambling and extortion. The report said that based on the findings, the government would take steps and might even ban the app from the country. Moneycontrol said that the I4C (Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre) and MeitY were looking into the P2P communications on Instagram. 

The investigation initiated by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) would look into specific criminal activities like extortion and gambling. The report highlighted that the platform had become one of the breeding grounds for illegal activities. 

The government official who confirmed the probe was not related to the Information Technology (IT) Rules as Telegram was compliant with them. The authorities faced difficulties investigating platforms that do not have operations in India. The official said that based on the law and material found, the government would conclude. Cyberattack at Port of Seattle: Attack Causes Web System Outage Affecting Website, Phone, and Email, Airport Operations Disrupted.

Following the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, the platform recently said that it was not responsible for the content posted on it and neither the CEO had anything to do with them. 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 26, 2024 01:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).