UGC's Twitter handle hacked, nearly 24,000 spam tweets deleted; Delhi police lodges FIR

New Delhi: An FIR has been registered, days after the official Twitter handle of the United Grants Commission (UGC), which has 2.98 lakh followers, was allegedly hacked and 24,000 spam messages were tweeted from it, the Delhi Police said on Friday.

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According to the FIR, the Twitter handle of the UGC (ugc_india), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education, was hacked at around 1.30 am on April 10.

"A complaint has been registered with Twitter as well. Twitter has provided regain access and now the handle is being used officially. But the spam tweets, approximately 24,000, have to be deleted manually, as informed by Twitter," the FIR stated.

"An FIR has been registered under sections 66 (whoever, by means of any communication device or computer resource, cheats by personation) and 66C (punishment for identify theft) of the IT Act on the complaint of an IT consultant who works with the Swayam project of the UGC," a senior police officer said.

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He added that a probe has been launched to trace the culprits and ascertain their intention behind putting out such tweets. "We have also written to Twitter, seeking our queries in connection with the probe," the officer said.