The Santacruz police have arrested a man accused of sharing a video of a person’s interview in which he abused and threatened to kill Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The accused, Yogesh Sawant, was produced before a magistrate court in Bandra, which remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days. However, the police have not yet disclosed whether the interviewer will also face arrest.
According to the police, the video uploaded on the YouTube channel ‘Gavran Vishleshak’ made controversial comments about Fadnavis and the Brahmin community. The video went viral on Facebook and X as well, though it was initially uploaded on Facebook by the user ‘Yogesh Sawant 7796’. It was also shared on Twitter by another user.
The case was filed at Santacruz police station on February 28, following a complaint by Akshay Panvelkar, 32, a city-based functionary of the youth wing of the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde).
The complaint alleges that the statements were provocative, aiming to incite riots between two communities and disturb public peace.
The Santacruz police have registered a case under sections 153 (a) (promoting enmity between the different groups on grounds of religion), 500 (defamation), 505 (incitement of offence), 506 (criminal intimidation), 34 (common intention) of the IPC.
Meanwhile, the Pune police have booked persons for allegedly posting offensive content about Fadnavis on social media sites. Vishwajit Durgadas Deshpande, a resident of Vadgaon, Pune, filed a complaint with the police in this regard.
