Marathi actor Ketaki Chitale sent to jail for 14 days over Facebook post
A crime branch officer associated with the investigation said they haven’t been able to trace the lawyer who is said to have written the verse.
THANE: Marathi actor Ketaki Chitale, who was arrested on May 14 on the charge that a Facebook post a day earlier defamed Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days by a Thane court on Wednesday. Chitale, who has acted in Marathi serials, shared a verse in Marathi, purportedly penned by advocate Nitin Bhave, that verse allegedly made personal attacks on Pawar’s health and demeanour.
In her post, Chitale credited “advocate Nitin Bhave” for the eight-line verse that contained phrases such as “hell is waiting” and “you hate Brahmins”, allegedly referring to Pawar whose party shares power in Maharashtra with Shiv Sena and Congress. The actor’s post was criticised by the ruling parties as well as opposition leaders.
A crime branch officer associated with the investigation said they haven’t been able to trace the lawyer who is said to have written the verse. “We have taken her statement and the investigation from her side is completed… She doesn’t know who Bhave, who wrote this poem, is,” the officer said..
Chitale is expected to move a bail application in a day or so.
The officer said the cyber team was working to ascertain the identity of the person who wrote the poem also.
