Turbhe police arrested a 25-year-old man early this week for allegedly cutting his birthday cake with a sword. Around 20 more people who attended the birthday party were booked under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897. The man was later let off on bail.
According to police, Mahesh Halwai celebrated his birthday on December 27 and cut the cake by a sword. After the celebration, he posted the video and photographs on social media. Halwai is reportedly attached to a political party in Turbhe.
After the video and photographs went viral, the police themselves initiated action against Halwai and others who attended the birthday party.
While Halwai was arrested under the Arms Act, 18 others were booked under relevant sections of the Epidemic Act, as they violated the norms of the pandemic. 11 of them have been traced so far and the search of the rest is going on. All of them, including Halwai were released on bail.
Rajendra Awahad, senior inspector of Turbhe police station said, “Since the photos were being circulated, some people also sent us. In the photo, Halwai was cutting the cake with the sword.” He added that he has not threaten anyone with the sword, but he should not have used such a weapon at an event. Therefore, we registered an offence against him and later arrested him. We also seized the sword from his possession. “The other people were booked and arrested for violating the epidemic norms.”
Halwai, however, said that he is just being targeted by some people from that area. He said, “I had neither threatened nor attacked anyone with the sword. A lot of people in Navi Mumbai used such swords to cut birthday cakes in the past. But the police took no action against them.”
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