Bhayandar: With assembly election less than two months away, the political temperatures are already running high in the twin-city. The Navghar police in Bhayandar on Tuesday registered an FIR against unidentified persons for creating an offensive video clip and circulating it on social media platforms.
The action followed in response to a complaint filed by Narendra Mehta, the BJP legislator from the Mira Bhayandar assembly constituency. The clip went viral on social media platforms, is a purported recreation of a devotional recital targeting the legislator and his family members over nonperformance and corruption.
“The clip not only hurts the religious sentiments of a particular community, but also smells of political vendetta. It is definitely a politically-motivated move to tarnish my image and unnecessarily drag family members into it.
The cyber cell has assured of nabbing the culprits soon,” said Mehta, who also announced a cash reward for anyone who provides information about the perpetrators.
“We have registered a case under sections 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), 298 (uttering, words with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person), 500 (defamation) and 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory) of the IPC against the miscreants. Efforts were on to trace the source and the miscreants who will be behind the bars soon,” confirmed an officer privy to investigation.
Sources said the probe team has questioned a couple of social activists in the region who of late have been opposing the legislator and the BJP-led governance in the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC). However, no arrests have been made so far.
By Suresh Golani
