MUMBAI—Mumbai police has arrested a person for allegedly defaming Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis recently, by tweeting his family photograph.
The accused, who has been identified as Ajay Hatekar, was arrested by the suburban Oshiwara police, senior police inspector of the Oshiwara police station, Subhash Khanvilkar told PTI.
Hatekar had allegedly posted a photograph of the Maharashtra Chief Minister's family enjoying a vacation in Goa, in 2011-2012, on Twitter, and suggested that it is a photograph of the Chief Minister's family holidaying in the USA at present, the police officer said.
Hatewar is the vice president of the social media cell of city Congress, reports Times of India.
Later, a police complaint was lodged by Sanjay Pandey, a BJP worker, alleging that Twitter had tried to malign the Maharashtra Chief Minister, the officer said.
Pandey, who resides in Lokhandwala Complex, Andheri (West), said that he had lodged the complaint after receiving a WhatsApp message from a friend, Raju Yadav, who had provided him the hyperlink of the tweet, Khanvilkar said.
The police officer said that the tweeted photograph was of the Maharashtra CM with his family on a yacht in Goa, which was clicked in the year 2011-2012.
After posting this photo on Twitter, Hatewar allegedly tweeted that the Maharashtra CM was enjoying a holiday in the USA, where he had gone to seek foreign direct investment, the officer said.
Meanwhile, the accused has been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Infotech Act, the police officer added.
The tweet may have led to the registration of an offence against him in Mumbai, but it has also catapulted Hatewar to instant fame, giving his political career leverage like never before.
But Hatewar isn't upset about getting arrested, he is in fact quite amused that his tweet has gone viral. "It was just a 'copy-and-post' act from my side. I had even changed the name of the chief minister and only posted a remark regarding a picture of the family, which was already gone viral among lakhs of users," he told Times Of India.
The tweet that got him arrested also gave his political career leverage like never before.
With inputs from PTI
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