Sameet Thakkar, who was arrested for defaming Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and son Aaditya, has been granted bail by a court in Mumbai on a surety of Rs 25 thousand.
Earlier, Thakkar allegedly posted derogatory tweets against Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and son Aaditya on social media and was arrested for the third time by Mumbai Police's BKC police station last week.
Thakkar had been re-arrested by VP Road Police shortly after being granted bail for the same charges, after being apprehended by Nagpur's Sitabuldi Police on October 24.
Acting on a complaint made by Mumbai advocate Dharmendra Mishra, who is also the Shiv Sena's legal consultant, BKC's Cyber Police had registered a First Information Report against Thakkar and eight others on August 5. In the FIR registered at the cyber police station, Mishra had said that Thakkar had accused the Maharashtra Environment and Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray of being involved in the suicide cases of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput and his former manager Disha Salian.
Accordingly, Thakkar and eight others were booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for statements creating/promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes conducing public mischief (section 505 (2)), printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory (section 501), defamation (section 500) and intentional insult (section 504).
A senior police officer attached to the BKC Cyber police station said that soon after Thakkar was released on bail in connection to an FIR lodged at VP Road police station, they took his custody in a case lodged with them. He was produced in a local magistrate court on Wednesday and remanded in police custody. Interestingly, Thakkar's anticipatory bail application in connection with the FIR lodged at the BKC Cyber police station was rejected by the sessions court .
Even with nine names being included in the FIR, only Thakkar was arrested in the matter. When a senior police officer was asked about this, he said that investigation was underway to ascertain the role of the others in the matter. Thakkar was arrested soon after he was granted conditional bail in the case registered at VP Road police station. One of the conditions for bail was that he would not operate his Twitter account till further orders.
