BJP extends legal support to X user booked by Karnataka police over edited video of CM

BENGALURU: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has extended legal support to an X user, identified as ‘Bhiku Mhatre’ (@MumbaichaDon) following his arrest by the Karnataka police for allegedly posting an edited video of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

While assuring legal support to Vinit Naik, BJP leader Amit Malviya hit out at the Congress government in the state, accusing the latter of being “intolerant of dissent.”

In a post on X, Amit Malviya said on Saturday, “Karnataka Police have arrested @MumbaichaDon from Goa. We are in touch with his family and will ensure he gets all legal support. Congress has unleashed anarchy and is intolerant of dissent. But there won’t be another #Emergency in this country, ever”.

Karnataka Police has arrested @MumbaichaDon from Goa. We are in touch with his family and will ensure he gets all legal support. Congress has unleashed anarchy and is intolerant of dissent. But there won’t be another #Emergency in this country, ever.

— Amit Malviya (मोदी का परिवार) (@amitmalviya) May 18, 2024

The Cyber Crime unit of Karnataka police filed an FIR against Bhiku Mhatre (@MumbaichaDon on X) on April 29 under Section 66 (C) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 penalising fraudulently or dishonestly making use of electronic signature, password or any other unique identification feature of any other person, and 153A of the IPC, penalising attacks upon religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc of any particular group or class.

As per the Karnataka police FIR, Naik, in his post shared an edited video of CM Siddaramaiah along with an objectionable short text over the Congress manifesto.

BJP state chief Tejasvi Surya also attacked the Congress government in the state, accusing it of “blatant abuse of power.”

This is blatant abuse of power by Karnataka Congress Govt.

We will fight this, both inside courts and outside. https://t.co/mCB8dkK1y5

— Tejasvi Surya (ಮೋದಿಯ ಪರಿವಾರ) (@Tejasvi_Surya) May 18, 2024

“This is blatant abuse of power by the Karnataka Congress government. We will fight this, both inside courts and outside,” Tejasvi Surya said in a post on X on Saturday.

Union Minister Smriti Irani also came to Mhatre’s defence while confirming his legal support in the case. “Spoke to @Tejasvi_Surya re the case. Legal support has been assured,” she said in a post on X on Saturday.

Spoke to @Tejasvi_Surya re the case . Legal support has been assured. https://t.co/VgVamhnOiZ

— Smriti Z Irani (Modi Ka Parivar) (@smritiirani) May 18, 2024

Vinit Naik has been booked based on a complaint lodged by J Saravanan, hailing from Sriramapura in Bengaluru. In his complaint, Saravanan claimed that Naik had posted an edited video of CM Siddaramaiah speaking about minority reservations along with objectionable comments. The post is to create enmity and hatred among different communities and also to bring a bad name to the Congress party, the complainant said.

Earlier last week, Karnataka police filed an FIR against three persons for allegedly making objectionable posts against Deputy CM D K Shivakumar. The police have booked Santosh Nelamangala, Kesari Samrat and Rajesh Gowda on charges of sharing obscene materials on social media based on a complaint by Harish Nagaraju. (ANI)