INDIA. Mumbai: An offence has been registered by Pune police against a person impersonating Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on charges of taking a photograph with a criminal and posting it on social media to defame him.
An offense has been registered at the Bund Garden Police station against Vijay Nandkumar Mane, residing at Ambegaon, under sections 419 (cheating by personation), 469 (forgery for the purpose of harming reputation), 470(forged document-electronic or record), 500 (defamation), 501(printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory) and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act.
The Anti-Extortion Squad has registered the offence since Mane has been impersonating Shinde by wearing similar attire for the last few months.
He recently posed for a photograph with an alleged criminal, Sharad Mohol from Mulshi, and posted it on social media. This was viewed as an attempt to defame Shinde.
While patrolling the Bund Garden area on Monday, the Police sub-inspector Mohan Jadhav of the anti-extortion squad came to know that Mane, dressed as Shinde, had posted his photograph with Mohol, and it was widely circulated on social media.
The photo purportedly showed that Mane was standing and Mohol was sitting in a chair. Since the photo communicated the wrong message that the CM posed for a photograph with a criminal, the offence was registered against Mane, a police officer said.
Besides, a few days ago, Mane had also circulated a video on social media where the women were seen dancing in front of him. This was also viewed as a deliberate attempt by Mane to tarnish the image of the CM.
Mane has been dressing like Shinde and going to public places. During the recent Ganeshotsav, he was invited by a different mandals, and there used to be a heavy crowd to take a selfie with him.
Senior Police Inspector Balaji Pandhre of the Anti-Extortion Cell is conducting further investigation.
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