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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

YouTuber challenges FIR, LoC in HC

Mumbai : The Bombay High Court issued notice to the state government on a petition filed by UK-based medico and YouTuber, Dr. Sangram Patil, seeking to quash a Mumbai Police FIR and revoking a Look Out Circular in a criminal case lodged against him, on Thursday.   Justice Ashwin D. Bhobe, who heard the matter with preliminary submissions from both sides, sought a response from the state government and posted the matter for Feb. 4.   Maharashtra Advocate-General Milind Sathe informed the court...

YouTuber challenges FIR, LoC in HC

Mumbai : The Bombay High Court issued notice to the state government on a petition filed by UK-based medico and YouTuber, Dr. Sangram Patil, seeking to quash a Mumbai Police FIR and revoking a Look Out Circular in a criminal case lodged against him, on Thursday.   Justice Ashwin D. Bhobe, who heard the matter with preliminary submissions from both sides, sought a response from the state government and posted the matter for Feb. 4.   Maharashtra Advocate-General Milind Sathe informed the court that the state would file its reply within a week in the matter.   Indian-origin Dr. Patil, hailing from Jalgaon, is facing a criminal case here for posting allegedly objectionable content involving Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on social media.   After his posts on a FB page, ‘Shehar Vikas Aghadi’, a Mumbai BJP media cell functionary lodged a criminal complaint following which the NM Joshi Marg Police registered a FIR (Dec. 18, 2025) and subsequently issued a LoC against Dr. Patil, restricting his travels.   The complainant Nikhil Bhamre filed the complaint in December 2025, contending that Dr. Patil on Dec. 14 posted offensive content intended to spread ‘disinformation and falsehoods’ about the BJP and its leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.   Among others, the police invoked BNSS Sec. 353(2) that attracts a 3-year jail term for publishing or circulating statements or rumours through electronic media with intent to promote enmity or hatred between communities.   Based on the FIR, Dr. Patil was detained and questioned for 15 hours when he arrived with his wife from London at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (Jan. 10), and again prevented from returning to Manchester, UK on Jan. 19 in view of the ongoing investigations.   On Wednesday (Jan. 21) Dr. Patil recorded his statement before the Mumbai Police and now he has moved the high court. Besides seeking quashing of the FIR and the LoC, he has sought removal of his name from the database imposing restrictions on his international travels.   Through his Senior Advocate Sudeep Pasbola, the medico has sought interim relief in the form of a stay on further probe by Crime Branch-III and coercive action, restraint on filing any charge-sheet during the pendency of the petition and permission to go back to the UK.   Pasbola submitted to the court that Dr. Patil had voluntarily travelled from the UK to India and was unaware of the FIR when he landed here. Sathe argued that Patil had appeared in connection with other posts and was not fully cooperating with the investigators.

Is Ajit unconquerable?

Updated: Oct 22, 2024

Ajit

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is currently receiving criticism from all the sides. His trusted associates across Maharashtra have been leaving him to join his uncle, while he had been receiving criticism from leaders in the Mahayuti coalition. The RSS cadres too had not hidden their discomfort with him. On this backdrop, it will be interesting to see whether he is able to prove his mantle and emerge unconquerable as his name suggests.


Former minister and BJP leader from Solapur Lakshman Dhoble left the party on Friday to join the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) under Sharad Pawar. While leaving the BJP he blamed Ajit Pawar for the troubles he had been creating. In Aurangabad, the party had to expel MLC Satish Chavan for anti-party activists. News stories regarding some or the other leader in his home district Pune leaving his side and joining his uncle’s party have become a daily routine over past month or so. Yet, ‘Dada’ (elder brother) as he is often referred to as by his followers, is undeterred and following the path he had chosen for himself over a year ago.

“All those leaving me are doing so because they know that they won’t get to contest from our party. They stand a better chance on the other side because there they have a vacuum of over 40 seats since we left them,” he says convincingly when asked about those leaving him. On rest of the criticism, he is sure that his unwavering dedication to work shall shut the mouths of all his critics.


He had to keep low due to bad performance in the Lok Sabha election. After the elections he was openly criticized even by an ally and fellow deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis who attributed the alliance’s poor performance to the NCP’s “inability” to convert support into votes for its allies. The issue is one fourth of the undivided NCP’s votes came from the minorities, which did not go the Mahayuti candidates during Lok Sabha polls.


But, this shortcoming is likely to be the best tool for him in the assembly election, as he is being perceived as the only Mahayuti leader who has an ability to attract Muslim votes. He is even nurturing his image accordingly and openly saying in advertisements that he hasn’t shed his ‘secular’ ideology even though he has joined the BJP for its development agenda.


Ajit Pawar is restless and ambitious. At a recent program, he spoke out his desire to become Chief Minister openly. He also nurtures a deep sense of resentment within, for not getting a chance to become the Chief Minister of the state in spite of swearing in for five times as Deputy Chief Minister in span of past two decades. His current politics, since past year and a half, when he broke away from his uncle Sharad Pawar, has been driven by this deep resentment.

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