Satara police arrest journalist from Mumbai days after minister Gore accuses him of raking up old complaint

Satara police arrested journalist Tushar Kharat for extortion after a complaint by Minister Jaykumar Gore, who claims Kharat defamed him by reviving a 2017 case.

The Satara police on Sunday arrested Tushar Kharat, a journalist running a YouTube channel, days after he was accused of raking up the 2017 case against rural development minister Jaykumar Gore.

According to the police, Kharat was arrested from Mumbai following a complaint filed by Gore at the Dahiwadi police station in Satara district. (REPRESENTATIVE PIC)

Kharat was arrested on charges of extortion, said police.

According to the police, Kharat was arrested from Mumbai following a complaint filed by Gore at the Dahiwadi police station in Satara district.

The arrest comes days after Gore moved a breach of privilege motion against Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar, and Kharat, the editor of the Marathi YouTube channel Lay Bhari. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister accused them of defaming him by bringing up an old sexual harassment and molestation case.

The motion was admitted by speaker Rahul Narwekar, who referred it to the breach of privilege committee of the state legislature.

Gore came under fire after the opposition on Wednesday raised a 2017 molestation case from his constituency. Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar brought up the case in the assembly without naming Gore, while Raut alleged that Gore had tortured and harassed the woman. Raut also claimed she planned to stage a hunger strike outside Vidhan Bhavan. Rohit Pawar echoed these concerns outside the House, demanding action against the minister.

On Thursday, Gore moved the breach of privilege motion in the lower house, accusing the opposition Raut, Pawar and Kharat of maliciously reviving a dismissed case.

“Raut, Pawar, and Tushar Kharat have raked up the case against me with malicious intent. The case was dismissed by the Satara district court in 2019, and I was acquitted. The court had also directed the police to destroy all digital evidence,” Gore said in the assembly.

He further alleged that the trio had leveled baseless allegations to defame him and his family, violating both his personal privilege and that of the legislature.