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Four booked in PCMC for circulating Ramdas Athawale’s morphed picture
According to the complainant, the accused, on Thursday, allegedly morphed Athawale’s face onto a shirtless body.
Four men have been booked by the Pimpri-Chinchwad police for circulating morphed pictures of Ramdas Athawale, leader of Republican Party of India (A) on social media.
The four accused have been identified as Nitin Gholap, Balasaheb Shinde, Dinkar Telang and Kailas Kamble, according to the police. The complaint has been lodged by Sudhakar Vishwanath Varbhuvan, 59, a resident of Babasahebnagar in Bhosari and a member of Athawale's party.
According to the complainant, the accused, on Thursday, allegedly morphed Athawale’s face onto a shirtless body. They also called him a drunkard and a transgender. The image was widely circulated on social media platforms- Facebook and WhatsApp. Through the post, the accused demanded Athawale to apologise to Anna Bhosale, an Indian National Congress (INC) member from Bhosari.
"Three days ago, he (Athawale) was attending a function at Bhakti Shakti chowk on the invitation of Anna Bhosale. During a public conversation, he uttered an abuse against Bhosale and it enraged Bhosale's supporters. This circulation of morphed pictures is a fallout of that, but we have now spoken about it and we are at peace. The case has also been withdrawn," said Varbhuvan.
However, Kalyan Pawar, senior police inspector of Pimpri police station, said, “The pictures were morphed. We have not yet arrested these people.”
While the complainant claimed that the case has been withdrawn, Pawar denied withdrawal of the complaint.
A case under Sections 501(1), 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory), 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at Pimpri police station.
