Thane: 27-Year-Old Man Arrested For Threatening Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde

A 27-year-old man who allegedly issued a threat to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in a social media post was arrested on Monday from Thane's Shree Nagar area.

Thane DCP Prashant Kadam told news agency ANI, "The accused is 27 years old and lives in Srinagar. He is a school dropout."

"He (the accused) is a 9th-grade dropout. We have arrested him. The accused used his friend's mobile to post a threat video against Deputy CM Eknath Shinde on Instagram. An FIR was registered in Srinagar, and we arrested the accused within 12 hours. We will produce the accused in court and will uncover the motive behind his actions during the investigation," Kadam said.

According to the English daily TOI, the suspect, Hitesh Dhende, resides in the Srinagar area of Thane.

The accused used derogatory language against the Deputy CM in an Instagram live video, which went viral on the internet.

After the video went viral, several Shiv Sena workers filed complaints against the accused, demanding strict action.

Notably, on January 1, a 50-year-old Worli resident was detained by the Maharashtra state cyber cell for questioning in a case related to a doctored video of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Later, the Esplanade Court ordered the release of the accused, citing procedural lapses in arresting him for merely sharing the doctored video and not creating it.