Marathi actor nabbed for 'vile posts' against Maha minister

A small-time Marathi actor has been arrested in Thane for allegedly posting objectionable posts on the Facebook page of Maharashtra Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde, officials said on Tuesday.

The accused, identified as Mayuresh Kotkar, who has acted in some Marathi serials and films, was nabbed following a complaint lodged by Shiv Sena corporator Yogesh Jankar.

Jankar, in his complaint last Friday, said that Kotkar posted allegedly defamatory and inciteful content on the Facebook page of the minister which could have triggered violence between communities.

Following the plea, the Shreenagar police station investigated the matter and nabbed Kotkar. He was produced before a Thane court which sent him to judicial custody.

The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi has been criticised over Kotkar's arrest by several prominent personalities on social media.

The posts pertained to the proposal for the naming of the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport after the Shiv Sena founder-patriarch, Balasaheb Thackeray, who passed away in 2012.

Local villagers, comprising the Agri community, are strongly opposed to the proposal and have demanded that the airport should be named after a prominent local leader, Peasants & Workers Party (PWP) senior functionary and parliamentarian, Dinkar B. Patil, who had passed away in 2012.

Last week, the villagers protested by forming a 12-km-long human chain and have now threatened to lay a siege of the Konkan Bhavan on June 24 if their demand is not conceded.

Kotkar had joined the Agri protests and had also made several posts on social media networks, but after the Sena complaint, police deleted some of the objectionable content.

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