Man booked under IT Act for defamatory tweet against Maha CM Devendra Fadnavis

A man has been booked under the Section 67 (A) of the IT Act by the Oshiwara police for posting defamatory tweet about the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis along with a picture of him with his family on a yacht., reports an English daily. The photo is from 2012-2013 when Fadnavis was on a family vacation trip to the US.

The man has been identified as Ajay Hatewar and he is believed to be from Nagpur. The tweet was sent from the Twitter handle Twitter handle (@AjayHatewar at 8.36 am on July 2.

Senior inspector Subhash Khanvilkar has said that details about Hatewar have been sought from the cyber branch and investigations are still on.

The complaint against Hatewar was lodged by Sanjay Pandey  who got the link to the tweet through a WhatsApp message from a friend. Pandey who resides in Lokhandwala Complex in Andheri West  is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker. "The tweet has linked the CM's old photograph with his recent official visit to the US for investment, and the man who has posted it has said the CM was enjoying there. This is a defamatory statement made to malign the CM's image," Pandey said.

Another BJP leader Dharampal Meshram who hails from  Nagpur also filed a complaint against Hatewar earlier this week at local Nandavan police station against the same statements through the use of the same photo.

The complainant has said that the photo was up on the family's social media account and its use has been made to damage the CM's image.

Meanwhile, BJP leaders across the state have lodged complaints against the statement across Maharashtra.