The Karnataka High Court on Friday quashed the FIRs registered against former BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya and Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami over an alleged false claim made in a television programme that Turkey's Istanbul Congress Centre is the international office of the Indian National Congress.

A Single Bench of Justice M. Nagaprasanna allowed the criminal petitions filed by Malviya and Goswami, quashing the proceedings registered under Sections 192 (provocation with intent to cause riot) and 352 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

A detailed copy of the order is awaited.

The Court had earlier in an interim order stayed further investigation in the matter.

The case was filed at the High Grounds police station following a complaint by Shrikant Swaroop B N, head of the legal cell of the Indian Youth Congress.

To recap, the complaint alleged that the misinformation was 'deliberately designed to mislead the Indian public, defame a major political party, stir nationalist sentiments, and incite unrest', as per the complaint.

Senior Advocate Arun Shyam had appeared for the Petitioners.