The Karnataka Police on Saturday reportedly arrested a man from Goa over his alleged now-deleted post on X (formerly Twitter) against the Congress manifesto. Media reports claimed that the man, whose social media handle is BhikuMhatre (@MumbaichaDon), had alleged in his post that the Congress “wants to take away wealth from Hindus and distribute it to Muslims as it hates Hindus” - a claim that BJP leaders have also made.
The social media post against the Congress was reportedly posted last month.
According to a report by The Indian Express, BhikuMhatre's arrest came after a Bengaluru resident and Congress worker filed a complaint with the cybercrime police on April 29. The police then registered a case against the X user under section 153(a) of the Indian Penal Code and 66(c) of the Information Technology Act.
Shortly before his arrest, BhikuMhatre also posted a notice issued to him by X after it received a court against from the magistrate Bengaluru City regarding his X account ‘@MumbaichaDon’.
“This court order obligates X to produce information related to your account. We cannot give you any legal advice, but suggest that you may wish to seek your own legal counsel in this matter,” the notice read.
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“So it seems CONgress wants to intimidate me for speaking Truth. I'm ready to fight against any injustice & will take full Judicial Course even if that means approaching Highest Court, as I have never written anything which may be called as inflammatory or communal,” he wrote on X.
{{/usCountry}}“So it seems CONgress wants to intimidate me for speaking Truth. I'm ready to fight against any injustice & will take full Judicial Course even if that means approaching Highest Court, as I have never written anything which may be called as inflammatory or communal,” he wrote on X.
{{/usCountry}}Following this, BhikuMhatre's son, identified as Nagesh Naik, said: "My father @MumbaichaDon has been arrested by @DgpKarnataka @CPBlr @BlrCityPolice A mail was sent by TWITTER and suddenly in the evening the Police showed up at the doorstep and took away my father! FIR is totally NOT pertinent! #ReleaseBhikuMhatre.”
Meanwhile, the BJP leaders came out in support of the arrested man and hit out at the Karnataka government over the arrest.
BJP MP Tejasvi Surya called the arrest a “blatant abuse of power” by the Karnataka Congress government. “We will fight this, both inside courts and outside,” he said.
Union minister Smriti Irani also informed that she spoke to Tesjasvi Surya regarding the case, and the BJP has assured legal support to the arrested social media user.