Two arrested for circulating morphed video of Shinde faction leaders

MUMBAI: Two persons have been arrested for allegedly circulating a morphed lewd video of Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) spokesperson Sheetal Mhatre and MLA Prakash Surve

MUMBAI: Two persons have been arrested for allegedly circulating a morphed lewd video of Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) spokesperson Sheetal Mhatre and MLA Prakash Surve.

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According to the Dahisar police, the accused have been identified as Tare Manas Kuwar, 26, of Borivali and Ashok Mishra, 45, of Andheri.

They were arrested after Mhatre and several Shiv Sainiks approached the police on Saturday and filed a complaint against those responsible for creating, uploading and circulating the video on Facebook.

A case was registered against unidentified persons for outraging the modesty of a woman and also under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act to defame the Shiv Sena party members.

“The video was received by Surve’s son, who was a member of the group where it was being circulated. We got the names of the people who had forwarded the video and arrested them,” Pravin Patil, senior police inspector, said.

“We are now finding out the motive behind the two circulating the video. We have written to Facebook to find who had uploaded the video first,” Patil added.

Meanwhile, addressing a press conference, an angry Mhatre alleged that the Thackeray faction and its youth wing, Yuva Sena, were behind the morphed video. She said that it was shocking that a woman can be treated in such a way in Shivaji Maharaj’s Maharashtra.

In a tweet, Mhatre said, “”If there is nothing to say about women in politics, then attempt her character assassination. Is it the culture of the Uddhav Thackeray faction? Didn’t you remember Balasaheb’s manners while uploading such a morphed video from a Facebook page called Matoshree?”

Mhatre said about 350 people shared the morphed video to malign her image, including people from the Thackeray faction and Yuva Sena. “Police should find out the mastermind of this crime and strong action should be taken against him,” she demanded.

Naresh Mhaske, chief spokesperson of Shiv Sena, alleged that Thackeray faction MLAs and MPs spread the morphed video.

On the other hand, denying the charges, Sushma Andhare, leader of Thackeray faction said, “It is very unfortunate and wrong to spread such a video, but how can they accuse the organisation for the act of one individual.”

The video was created with lewd comments after Mhatre and Surve had attended a rally organised by chief minister Eknath Shinde in Dahisar.