New Delhi: Bureaucrat Ashish Joshi is again in news and this time for ‘doxing’ and ‘threatening’ a Twitter user after an ideological clash on the social media. 

 A 1992 batch Indian Post and Telecommunication Accounts and Finance Service officer Joshi on a public platform abused his position to threaten the Twitter user. He said that he would block the account and expose the identity of the user who goes by the name of True Indology.

This is not the first time that Joshi is involved in a controversy. On February 26, Joshi was suspended after he wrote to Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik, red-flagging a video posted by rebel AAP MLA Kapil Mishra on Twitter, in which he advocated violence against “traitors”. 

Sources said that Joshi faced the music for allegedly misusing his office. They further claimed that Joshi did not inform his supervising officer before shooting the letter.

Also read: Officer Ashish Joshi, who complained against Kapil Mishra, suspended

The fresh controversy started after a journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani expressed her views on celebrating Holi in India, which was in reaction to the recent Surf Excel advertisement. 

Replying to the tweet, True Indology explained that Sherwanis were Afghan invaders who came to India with the aides of Shershah. They served as Governors of Punjab and banned Holi among other festivals.


Suspended officer Joshi parachuted in the debate and while trying to take on True Indology claimed that Sherwani tribe originally hails from Afghanistan, he tweeted, “Sherwan is in Afganistan. It is famous as Great Sufi Saint, Sheikh Sardarud-din Sader-e-Jahan was born there. He was also called Sherwani Afgan.”


However, True Indology immediately exposed Joshi and corrected him by arguing that Sherwan is not in Afghanistan but it is in Pakistan. In a series of tweets True Indology complexly exposed Joshi’s misinformation and posted minutest detail about the tribe.

 
Joshi who lost the fact-check fight with True Indology did not take the humiliation pleasantly.  He threatened to expose the person’s personal details. 

In a series of tweets, Joshi accused him of spreading hatred against minorities and threatened him of legal and police action. However, these tweets were deleted by Joshi later.
 
hypocrites who look away when convenient https://t.co/wZuXIxjhJA

— True Indology (@TrueIndology) March 13, 2019

 
A large number of netizens came in support of True Indology, including senior bureaucrats.1986 batch IAS officer Sanjay Dixit, who is posted in Rajasthan, warned Joshi that his act was constitutional intimidation and there can be a departmental action against him. 

“Hello, little babu. What are you throwing your weight about for? Do you know that this constitutes intimidation and if I complain against you, you could be in for serious trouble! Say sorry and retract, otherwise be prepared for departmental action. BTW, I know who you are,” Dixit said in his tweet.

 
Joshi was earlier accused of ‘blanket-tea scam’ where it was alleged that he misused funds to the tune of Rs 12 crore allotted to the Delhi Urban Improvement Shelter Board from Centre for Holistic Development, an NGO that works for the homeless. 

It was also said that an estimated 20,000 blankets, sheets and other provisions were procured at double the price from the market while tea, which was supposed to be provided for free to those living in the shelters was procured at Rs 9 per cup instead of the Rs 4 per cup which was sanctioned. Joshi was also accused of being involved in ‘large scale scam’ in the utilisation of funds meant for de-addiction centres under the government.