Indian police have filed preliminary charges against high-ranking Twitter employees over an inaccurate map of the country.

Uttar Pradesh State Police said a criminal case was filed against two Twitter India officials after the local head of a Hindu nationalist group announced that the disputed region of Kashmir was portrayed as an independent country on the company's website.

The map has already been removed from Twitter's section following outrage from social media users.

A police spokesman told AFP that Twitter India head Manish Maheshwari and another senior official are under investigation for violating Indian IT laws and causing harm to society.

In recent years, the government has taken a tough stance against any perceived distortion of India's borders, especially with regard to Kashmir, which is partially ruled by India and Pakistan.

Twitter has been blocked for several months due to new regulations for social media companies operating in India. The regulations require firms to remove and identify the first author" of messages that are believed to undermine India's sovereignty, national security, or public order.