Hyderabad: The Telangana Police have served notices to senior Indian Administrative Service officer Smita Sabharwal in connection with her repost of an AI-generated image on social media last month. The image was viewed as critical of the deforestation on the Hyderabad Central University-Kancha Gachibowli land, which was being carried out by the Revanth Reddy government until the Supreme Court halted the exercise.
On 31 March, Sabharwal had reposted a post by an X handle ‘Hi Hyderabad’, which was a ‘Ghibli-style’ AI-generated image, depicting JCBs lined up in front of the famous Mushroom Rock at the site with a pair of deer and a peacock supposedly helplessly looking on.
Sabharwal is a top civil servant in the state, having held several important positions during the two terms of the Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government. Most prominently, she was K. Chandrashekar Rao’s secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office for almost 10 years. She was in charge of the important irrigation department, BRS’s ambitious drinking water scheme Mission Bhagiratha, and also monitored the much controversial Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project.
After the Revanth Reddy-led Congress government took over in December 2023, Sabharwal—seen as KCR’s blue eyed bureaucrat—was posted as member secretary, Telangana State Finance Commission, in what was seen as shunting.
The 2001 batch IAS officer is currently the secretary of Telangana tourism, culture and youth affairs department.
The notices were reportedly issued on 12 April, but came to light Wednesday, when the Supreme Court lambasted the Revanth Reddy government again, asking it to come up with a plan to restore vegetation in the 100-acre land abutting the university.
The Gachibowli Police served the notices to the officer under Section 179 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and are reportedly preparing to summon her for questioning based on her response.
Speaking to media persons, IT and industries minister Sridhar Babu, an HCU alum and a member of the Group of Ministers (GoM) constituted by the chief minister to resolve the land issue, said that the law will take its course in Sabharwal’s matter.
The 100-acre patch is part of the 400 acres of the controversial Kancha-Gachibowli land in Cyberabad, Telangana’s IT hub, once under the control of the Hyderabad Central University. The land is among the few remaining green spaces in the city, and is home to deer, peacocks, turtles, pythons, and so on.
On 3 April, as the government went about speedily levelling the forest-like land for auction and IT sector growth, the apex court had ordered it to halt all such activities, asking the state chief secretary Santhi Kumari to explain the compelling urgency to clear the tree cover.
Until then, the tree felling and levelling had gone on for days, with scores of heavy machinery pressed into the work, even as the university students, teachers, opposition parties and civil society groups protested against it vehemently.
Sabharwal did not respond to ThePrint’s calls to comment on the notices served to her, but the officer reposted a post by a Hyderabad-based journalist critical of the police action from her verified twitter handle.
FREE SPEECH – TELANGANA MODEL!
In probably a first, police booked a case against an IAS for a RETWEET!
Smitha Sabharwal, IAS, principal secretary of Youth Advancement, Tourism & Culture is the latest to be served notices by the Telangana police.
The Crime: She retweeted an… pic.twitter.com/5g5rTALYex
— Revathi (@revathitweets) April 16, 2025
The journalist claimed that Sabharwal is the latest to be served notices by Telangana Police in connection with social media posts related to the Kancha Gachibowli deforestation issue.
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Telangana govt’s plea against ‘AI content’
The state government had last week petitioned the Telangana High Court to issue directions against AI-generated content, which it claimed was being used to spread false narratives about the government action. It had submitted to the bench hearing various PILs challenging the deforestation and auction plans that certain fake content was being circulated on social media platforms to malign its image.
Previously, in a review meeting held with officials on the court cases pertaining to the land on 5 April, the chief minister had expressed his displeasure. Taking a serious note of the “fake images and false narratives”, he had instructed officials to appeal in the court for an inquiry into the creation of AI content, “which misled the society” in the matter.
Police officials, according to a CMO press release then, attributed the nationwide furore over the land clearance to “some fake videos and photos of crying peacocks and injured deer running away”, created by vested interests using artificial Intelligence, and their circulation on social media.
It was noted that Union Minister Kishan Reddy, former Telangana minister Jagadish Reddy, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, and film celebrities like John Abraham, Dia Mirza and Raveena Tandon “sent wrong message to the society uploading such fake videos and photos on their social media handles believing them to be true”.
A day later, Mirza, who hails from Hyderabad, had strongly refuted the CMO statement, saying that she had “not posted a single image or video that is AI-generated”, and that the Telangana government should verify facts before making such claims.
The CM of Telangana posted a tweet yesterday. He made certain claims about the situation at Kancha Gachibowli.
One of them was that I had used FAKE AI generated images/videos in support of the protest by students to protect biodiversity on the 400acres of land the government…
— Dia Mirza (@deespeak) April 6, 2025
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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