Coronavirus: Infosys engineer asks people to 'spread the virus', sacked

Infosys software engineer, Mujeeb Mohammed, who appealed to the public to sneeze in public places to spread coronavirus has been sacked, Infosys said in a statement. Mujeeb Mohammed has been booked under Section 505 (making statements which cause alarm or fear in public, and also inciting and provokes others) of the Indian Penal Code.

The engineer had posted, "Let's join hands, go out and sneeze with open mouth in public. Spread the virus" on his Facebook.

On Thursday, the IT giant took to Twitter to state, "We are deeply concerned with an inappropriate post being attributed to an Infosys employee. We strongly reaffirm our commitment to responsible social-sharing. Our preliminary enquiry, and discussions with our employee suggest that this couold be a case of mistaken identity."

The IT giant, which initially believed that this could possibly be a case of mistaken identity confirmed that the software engineer, Mujeeb Mohammed, was their employee. The company further stated that he has been terminated for this post.

In a tweet on late Friday night, the tech behemoth stated, "Infosys has completed its investigation on the social media post by one of its employees and we believe that this is not a case of mistaken identity."

In another tweet, Infosys condemned the social media post as violative of Infosys' code of conduct and its commitment to responsible social sharing. Bengaluru headquartered IT giant also categorically stated that it has terminated the employee in question.

Edited with PTI inputs

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