In an incident similar to the arrest of two girls from Palghar for their Facebook post, police on Wednesday detained a teenager who had allegedly made adverse remarks against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray. However, police later said that a “fake account” was used by unidentified person or persons in the teenager’s name.
Sunil Vishwakarma (19) was dragged to the police station by MNS activists who were angered by his alleged remarks against Raj Thackeray on his Facebook account.
In fact, the MNS had brought Vishwakarma from his house and allegedly manhandled him before handing him over to the police. However, Special IGP Sukhwinder Singh denied that boy had been manhandled by the MNS activists.
After the hasty arrest of two Palghar girls for their Facebook remarks had resulted in the suspension of two police officers, including the District Superintendent, the police are treading with care in this matter.
Special IGP added that the police had only detained Vishwakarma for questioning and had not arrested him yet. “The police have not lodged an FIR against the youth,” he added.
“My brother is innocent. He told me that his account might have been hacked and objectionable comments may have been posted,” Sunil’s brother Ramji Vishwakarma told reporters.
Meanwhile, Palghar town, about 105 km from Mumbai, came to standstill due to the total bandh enforced by the Shiv Sena.
The party had given the bandh call to protest the action against the suspended police officers.