Police have detained a youth named Nikhil Bhamre from Nashik for a critical social media post made against NCP president Sharad Pawar. The youth had posted a tweet against Sharad Pawar after which NCP leader and housing minister Jitendra Awhad had demanded action against him.
In his tweet, Nikhil Bhamre wrote, “It is time to create a Nathuram Godse of Baramati for a ‘Gandhi’ of Baramati. Uncle, do apologize.” It is notable that Baramati in the Pune district of Maharashtra is the hometown of Sharad Pawar. The tweet by Nikhil Bhamre is probably intended to the recent incident in which Sharad Pawar quoted poetry by Marathi poet Jawahar Rathod to make derogatory remarks against Hindu deities.
NCP leader and housing minister of Maharashtra Jitendra Awhad took cognisance of Nikhil’s post and tweeted, “At what level is it all happening… Take strict action against this perverted man.” Jitendra Awhad tagged in his tweet the official Twitter handles of the Mumbai police, the commissioner of the Mumbai police, Maharashtra’s director general of police, Pune city police, and Thane city police.
काय पातळी वर हे सगळे होते आहे … ह्या विकृत इसमा विरुद्ध कडक कारवाई करा @MumbaiPolice @CPMumbaiPolice @DGPMaharashtra @PuneCityPolice @ThaneCityPolice pic.twitter.com/WY5TSaKURZ
— Dr.Jitendra Awhad (@Awhadspeaks) May 13, 2022
After Jitendra Awhad’s tweet, the Dindori police in Nashik tracked down the 21-year-old youth Nikhil Bhamre who is a pharmacy student with no prior criminal record. He was arrested from his rented accommodation in Nashik. He is from Dindori and belongs to a farmer’s family and was living in Nashik to pursue his studies.
An FIR was registered against Nikhil Bhamre under sections 153A, 500, 501, and 506 of the Indian Penal Code. He will be produced before the magistrate’s court soon.
A Dindori police official said that Nikhil Bhamre was affiliated with a right-wing group in the past but refused to name it. According to the police, Bhamre deleted all his social media accounts after learning that the police were on the lookout for him. His phone has been seized and police are trying to retrieve his chats. Police said that he has made several such comments in the past as well.
It is notable that Jitendra Awhad has followed his own way in the past to deal with the people who make criticizing posts on social media. In April 2020, Jitendra Awhad deployed some police personnel to call 40-year-old Anant Karmuse to his bungalow where he was brutally beaten up in the minister’s presence over for allegedly posting a morphed picture of Awhad on Facebook. Jitendra Awhad was arrested in this case and later released on submitting a bond. Now, he has tagged police officers and social media accounts of various city police to arrest the youth for a social media post against Sharad Pawar.
