THE PANVEL City Police on Wednesday night arrested a 34-year-old man for allegedly posting objectionable comments on social media against Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar. This is the third arrest in recent times in connection with alleged objectionable social media posts against Pawar.
The arrested accused has been identified as Kiran Inamdar, who runs a food stall in Panvel. He was produced before a Panvel court on Thursday and sent to police custody till Friday.
According to police, after Marathi actor Ketaki Chitale posted an alleged defamatory post about Pawar on Facebook earlier this month, a similar post was shared by Inamdar on social media.
A first information report ,FIR) was registered at the Panvel City police station against Inamdar but police were unable to trace him for a few days.
According to police, Inamdar was hiding in Alibaug, from where he was picked up by police on Wednesday night and brought to Panvel.
After Inamdar was brought to the Panvel city police station, NCP workers gheraoed the station and women members of the party staged a protest there.
“Inamdar has been booked under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence), 500 (defamation) 501 (posting defamatory content) and 504 (intentional insult) of Indian Penal Code and has has been placed under arrest. He will be in police custody till Friday,” said Senior Police Inspector Vijay Kadbane of Panvel City police station.
Chitale, who was arrested by Thane Police, is currently in judicial custody for the alleged defamatory post against Pawar. Multiple FIRs have been registered against her at different police stations across the state regarding the post. Mumbai police is also likely to seek her custody.
Earlier, Nashik Rural Police had arrested Nikhil Bhamre, a 23-year-old pharmacy student, for posting similar “objectionable content” against Pawar.
The police custody of Bhamre ended on Wednesday, after which Thane Police took Bhamre’s custody. He was produced before a Thane court on Thursday and sent to judicial custody.
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