top of page

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.

Karuna Sharma – doomsayer for Munde

Updated: Mar 6, 2025

Munde

Mumbai: Ruling ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)’s Dhananjay Munde’s estranged wife Karuna Sharma proved to be the proverbial doomsayer who first predicted that he would quit as a Minister, as the pacy developments unveiled on Tuesday.


Over the weekend, she had claimed that Munde had already submitted his resignation letter to NCP President and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, but few took her seriously.


In a social media post, she said that Ajit Pawar had secured Munde’s papers at least two days ago and it would be announced on Monday, though NCP leaders denied the claims.


Sharma persisted with her contentions before the media that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had purportedly directed Munde to submit his resignation, though nothing moved even on Monday.


Though Fadnavis dropped broad hints during a public speech that if required he would take Munde’s resignation, it actually materialized this morning, as the Opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi parties roared their approval.


Going further, Sharma today demanded that all those responsible for the murder of Massajog village (Beed) Sarpanch Santosh Pandit Deshmukh should be hanged, even as the besieged Munde insisted that he quit on ‘health grounds’.


The chorus for Munde’s scalp gained speed after certain disturbing photos of the tortures meted out to Deshmukh before his death (on Dec. 9, 2024), which surfaced last night, went viral and triggered a huge political uproar, sealing the Minister’s fate.


The political reactions and its potential fallout for the Mahayuti government left Munde with no options but to quit on March 4, in a face-saver for the NCP.

The next step of activists like Anjali Damania and other politicians is to tighten the screws on the NCP to take Munde’s resignation as an MLA from Parli assembly constituency in Beed.

Comments

bottom of page