Migrants’ morcha: Maha cracks down on scribe

Mumbai, April 15 (IANS) Barely 24 hours after a massive migrants’ morcha demanding ‘ghar-wapsi’ shocked the nation, the Mumbai Police on Wednesday evening arrested a television journalist, Rahul Kulkarni, on charges of spreading fake news.

“Rahul Kulkarni has been arrested by the Bandra Police and will be produced before the court on Thursday morning. He has been charged under various sections of Indian Penal Code and Epidemic Diseases Act,” Mumbai Police spokesperson and DCP Pranaya Ashok told IANS.

Kulkarni is the Osmanabad-based correspondent of ABP Majha, a Marathi language TV channel, who had came to Mumbai from where he was nabbed.

Shortly afterwards, state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said the misinformation regarding the commencement of trains from April 14 appeared to be a ‘big conspiracy’.

“The wrong information regarding the starting of trains was disseminated using 11 different methods. Those accounts have been tracked, police cases are being filed and due process of law will follow,” the minister said.

Simultaneously, the Mumbai Police and the Cyber Crime Branch are working on the probe with new revelations of a viral video suggesting a possible conspiracy theory.

Taking serious note of the incident near the Bandra railway station, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray ordered a thorough investigation, resulting in the arrest of a Navi Mumbai-based self-styled activist, Vinay Dube. He has been remanded to police custody till April 21.

DCP Abhishek Trimukhe said that the Bandra Police have so far filed three FIRs in connection with the migrants’ morcha, and against the journalist for airing a report suggesting that trains would run and ferry the migrant workers back home.

Meanwhile, state Bharatiya Janata Party Vice President Kirit Somaiya has written to Police Commissioner Parambir Singh, demanding a probe into a viral video, which he claimed, points to a conspiracy.

“I sent this video, which seems genuine, to the police and the Home Secretary. It appears to be planned,” Somaiya said.

–IANS

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