Bareilly: A police complaint was lodged by Samajwadi Party workers after a “fake” letter reportedly circulated on social media claimed that party’s sitting MP from Badaun Dharmendra Yadav, a cousin of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, was replaced by a little-known candidate to contest the Lok Sabha election from the seat.After the fake letter created a flutter in the party circle, SP’s Badaun district president Ashish Yadav lodge a complaint at Civil Lines police station. However, no FIR was lodged till the filing of this report.The fake letter, dated March 22 and bearing the SP logo and chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary’s signature, states that Akhilesh Yadav has announced Naval Kishore Shakya as the party candidate from Badaun for the Lok Sabha elections, replacing Dharmendra Yadav from the seat.Terming the move a conspiracy by anti-social elements, Ashish Yadav said, “After people started posting the fake letter on WhatsApp and Facebook on Friday, I was flooded with calls from party workers. I don’t even know or heard about Shakya. After replacing a candidate from the Ghaziabad constituency a few days back, the party high command had issued a letter. However, some anti-social elements edited that letter and changed the name just to harm the party for their personal gain. Dharmendra Yadav is our party candidate. He is known for his development work.”Demanding registration of an FIR, Yadav said, “We have demanded a probe into the matter. We want police to identify the person behind the fake letter and appropriate action should be taken against him/her.”Station house officer (SHO) of Civil Lines police station OP Gautam said, “We have received a complaint in this connection. We have sought screenshots of the letter posted on social media so that police could trace the mobile number or name of the person who had done it. After receiving screenshots, we will lodge an FIR.”

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