Mumbai: After Girl arrested for Posting Anti-Bal Thackeray, an 18 year old Youth was detained at Palghar Police Station in Mumbai after he posted some thoughts about Raj Thackeray on Facebook which were deemed objectionable by Thackeray led MNS.
In this first sight it was an arrest, but a police official from Palghar, declining to be identified, said the “youth had neither been detained nor arrested, but was merely being questioned” and no offence has yet been registered in the matter.
Identified as an 18-year-old meat shop assistant, Sunil Vishwakarma was picked up Wednesday for quizzing by police after some Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) activists complained of objectionable matter allegedly posted under his name on networking site Facebook.
According to initial investigations, it was found that Vishwakarma was unable to operate Facebook and police suspected someone might have created his fake profile, pointing to hacking.
The official said the matter was beyond the purview of the Palghar police and would be transferred to the Thane police’s cyber cell for probe and action.
With the recent Facebook controversy involving two Palghar girls — Shaheen Dadha and Renu Srinivasan — still fresh in the minds of the police, they are dealing with the matter with extra caution.
Vishwakarma “has been kept in the police station to protect him from possible attacks” as police probed the issue, the official said.
Meanwhile, Palghar, around 100 km from here, and its surroundings observed a shutdown following a call by the Shiv Sena.
The shutdown was in protest against the departmental inquiry against and suspension of superintendent of police (Thane rural) Ravindra Sengaonkar and Palghar police chief senior inspector Shrikant Pingle in the Dadha-Srinivasan Facebook case.
With a population of around 200,000, Palghar is a sprawling semi-industrialised and tribal dominated, eco-sensitive region in north-west part of Thane district, which is soon to be carved out as an independent district.
Meawhile, Palghar town and surrounding areas remained shut in response to a call by the Shiv Sena to oppose the suspension of the two police officials who had arrested two girls for their Facebook comments on Bal Thackeray’s death.
The shutdown call evoked a near-total response in the industrial town, around 100 km north-west of the state capital Mumbai in Thane district, officials said.
G.R. Patil, a resident of the town with a population of around 200,000, said the shutdown evoked total response, paralysing public transport, trade and business activities.
After the girls’ comments on the Facebook, suspected Shiv Sena activists lodged a police complaint against the girls and also vandalised a hospital owned by Shaheen’s uncle.
Following a nationwide uproar over the developments, Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil ordered a probe into the incident and followed up by suspending two policemen Tuesday.
“Based on the report submitted by the inspector general of police, Konkan Range, (Sukhvinder Singh), it has been decided that the superintendent of police, Thane Rural, Ravindra Sengaonkar be suspended and a departmental probe be ordered against him,” Patil told reporters here.
“Similarly, it has also been decided that the Palghar police chief, Senior Inspector Shrikant Pingle, also be suspended and a departmental inquiry be ordered against him too,” he added.