Mumbai: Marathi actress Ketaki Chitale has been arrested for a derogatory post on Facebook against veteran politician Sharad Pawar.
Confirming the news, a senior official of Thane crime branch said Chitale will be produced before a court on Sunday, The Indian Express reported.
In the FB post on Friday, Chitale wrote on Pawar’s illness, appearance and voice. She also alleged that the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief is corrupt.
Chitale was initially detained by crime branch officials in the morning for questioning. She was later arrested.
A group of people tried to attack the actress and threw ink on her when she arrived at the police station.
Chitale has been booked under IPC sections 500 (defamation), 501 (printing or engraving defamatory matter) and 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony).
On Friday, 21-year-old pharmacy student Nikhil Bhamre from Nashik was arrested for allegedly tweeting a provocative statement against Pawar.
Maharashtra Housing minister and NCP leader Jitendra Avhad hit out at Chitale’s ‘dangerous’ post.
“He (Pawar) has gone through three operations of cancer and he has survived it. He is 83 years old. To comment on his illness, to comment on his body’s condition… such comments are not suitable coming from a woman, a sister. What she wrote is dangerous,” he said.
