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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.

Trial By Fire

Updated: Nov 12, 2024

Chandrashekhar Bawankule

Maharashtra BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule’s meteoric rise in the state politics is a mesmerising story of the success of democratic process and how even a common man can make to the top in a democracy.


Chandrashekhar Krishnarao Bawankule, born on January 13, 1969, in Koradi near Nagpur had completed his graduation in Science, but had no means to run the family and hence had started running auto-rickshaw on the Koradi-Nagpur road. He has a natural knack to connect with the people and this very skills carved a labour leader out of him. He use to chit chat with the labourers he use to ferry to and from the Koradi thermal power station which made him aware of their real issues and the exploitation they were facing. He built their union and fought for their rights.


Bawankule’s political journey began in the early 1990s when he founded the “Chhatrapati Sena,” a social organization aimed at addressing local issues. His dedication to social work caught the attention of senior BJP leaders, and in 1995, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party under the mentorship of Gopinath Munde and Nitin Gadkari. He quickly rose through the ranks, becoming the Vice President of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the BJP in Maharashtra.


In 2004, Bawankule was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from the Kamthi constituency defeating senior Congress leader Mukul Wasnik. The party had no good face to field from the constituency and was considering it as a lost seat and hence Bawankule was fielded from the constituency. However, his victory came as a pleasant surprise for the party and it raised his stature within the party. He successfully retained his seat in the subsequent elections in 2009 and 2014. His tenure as an MLA was marked by his focus on development and infrastructure projects in his constituency


Born into a Marathi Teli family Chandrashekhar Bawankule grew up in a farming family with no prior political background. His political acumen and leadership skills earned him several key ministerial positions in the Maharashtra government. From 2014 to 2019, he served as the Minister for Energy, New and Renewable Energy. During his tenure, he was instrumental in implementing various energy projects and reforms aimed at improving the state’s power infrastructure.


In 2019 assembly election he was denied party ticket owing to come corruption charges. However, later he was sent to legislative council and in August 2022, Chandrashekhar Bawankule was appointed as the President of the state BJP.


As the state president of the BJP Bawankule has a herculean task to deliver a desirable result for the party on the backdrop of its under performance in the Lok Sabha elections. If he could deliver his status in the party would rise. A failure will confine him to Nagpur only.

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