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Two NCP youth leaders booked for morphing pictures of PM, CM Yogi

The cyber cell of Pune police has booked two youth leaders of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Monday on charges of allegedly morphing pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and making it viral on social media with the intention of defaming the political leaders

Published on: May 11, 2021, 22:00:26 IST
By , Pune
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The cyber cell of Pune police has booked two youth leaders of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Monday on charges of allegedly morphing pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and making it viral on social media with the intention of defaming the political leaders.

HT Image
HT Image

The accused has been identified as NCP youth wing state secretary Mohsin Shaikh and Shivajirao Javir.

Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) social-media cell co-coordinators Vineet Vajpayee, Rupesh Pawar and Gaurav Shetty lodged the FIR under section 469 (forgery for the purpose of harming the reputation of any person or knowing that it is likely to be used for that purpose) and section 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The complaint alleged that the duo uploaded morphed pictures of Modi showing him as the Hindu God of death ‘Yama’ (carrying bodies of the Covid victims at a crematorium). The FIR stated that Javir allegedly uploaded objectionable content about the PM and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

The accused sent texts and circulated photographs with the intention to malign the images of the two national leaders with an ill-intention and defamation, the complaint stated.

Vajpayee said that they were forced to lodge an FIR on grounds that the images and content were defamatory, and they wanted to take legal action against acts done by opposition parties.

It may be recalled that the Pune cyber-crime cell police had booked 13 persons for posting objectionable edited photos and abusive content about chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj last week after complainants said that it had hurt sentiments of the people.

In yet another case, the Airport police have taken into custody a person identified as Rajesh Pandarinath Kakade (52), a resident of Sinhgad road for posting defamatory post regarding chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on a social media site related to reservation in jobs and education related issue.

Shiv Sena leader Anand Ram Goyal, a resident of Lohegaon lodged a complaint with the police stating that he saw the post on Facebook and approached the police seeking penal action.

Police Inspector Gajanan Pawar of Airport police station said that the complaint application was given, and the accused was tracked using cyber technology available at the cybercrime cell.

“He has been taken into custody for the defamatory content uploaded on May 9 and further investigation is on in the case,” he said.