AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat police detained Mumbai-based filmmaker Avinash Das on Tuesday in a case related to sharing a photograph of Union Home Minister Amit Shah with arrested IAS officer Pooja Singhal on social media.
“We detained Avinash Das from Mumbai on Tuesday. He is being brought to Ahmedabad by our team for the further legal process,” Ahmedabad Crime Branch’s Assistant Commissioner DP Chudasma said.
The FIR against Das was registered in June after he shared the photograph showing Singhal, who had been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case, whispering something to Shah.
As per the FIR, in a caption to the photo Das had claimed the picture was taken a few days before Singhal's arrest, while it was actually taken in 2017.
The crime branch had alleged this was done with an intention to tarnish Shah's image.
The filmmaker was also booked for insulting national honour by sharing on his Instagram and Facebook accounts a photo of a woman wearing the national flag.
A sessions court here in June rejected Das' plea for anticipatory bail, observing that he had deliberately claimed the photo of Shah with Singhal was taken a few days before the latter's arrest, with the intention to "tarnish the image of the Home Minister".
The photo of a woman wrapped in the national flag showed Das' "mental perverseness", the court had said in its order.
Later, the Gujarat High Court had also rejected his anticipatory bail application while observing that Das had violated provisions of the Prevention of Insults to the National Honour Act by circulating a painting showing a person wearing a dress made of the tricolour.
The Bombay High Court had also rejected Das' transit anticipatory bail application.
Das directed the 2017 film 'Anaarkali of Aarah', starring Swara Bhaskar, Sanjay Mishra and Pankaj Tripathi, and 'Raat Baaki Hai', which was released in 2021.
He had also helmed a Netflix series called 'She'.
FIR registered in June over photo
The FIR against Avinash Das was registered in June after he shared a photograph showing IAS officer Pooja Singhal, who has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case, whispering something to Amit Shah.
(With PTI Inputs)