Police action comes a day after Thackeray Sena accused Shinde Sena of roughing up a woman cadre in Thane for Facebook post against ruling leaders
Raj Mungase, the rapper and Eknath Shinde, Chief Minister
The Ambernath police booked an Aurangabad-based rapper, Raj Mungase, for his alleged defamatory song attacking the BJP-Shinde Sena government. His song, uploaded recently, made references to ‘50 khoke, Surat, Guwahati and Goa’. Just a day before the complaint was lodged, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had faced heat from Thackeray Sena after the rival Sena allegedly assaulted its female worker over a social media post against some ruling leaders.
Mungase, a resident of Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar), uploaded the video, titled ‘Chor|50 khokhe ekdum ok’ on March 25. With references to Surat, Guwahati and Goa, the song is alleged to have made attacks on the formation of the current Shiv Sena-BJP government.
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After the rebellion in the Shiv Sena in June last year, the MLAs supporting Eknath Shinde were first moved to Surat in the neighbouring Gujarat state. Thereafter, they were flown to Guwahati in Assam. On their way back to Mumbai, they made a stop in Goa. The khokha (crore) reference is believed to be on the Thackeray Sena’s allegation that the rival Sena, led by Chief Minister Shinde, had accepted crores of rupees to topple the MVA government and form an alliance with the BJP to come to power.
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A screen grab from the video of rapper Raj Mungase
The Shivaji Nagar police in Ambernath East on Tuesday booked Mungase under Sections 501 (printing or engraving defamatory matter), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) and 505(2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill will between classes) of the Indian Penal Code. They filed the FIR following a complaint from Snehal Kamble, a member of the Yuva Sena Core Committee who had stumbled upon the 1.29-minute rap video.
“The rapper’s video is abusive and defamatory towards the current Shiv Sena-BJP government. We suspect Mungase has the backing of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders. His video has been widely shared on social media platforms by MVA leaders and workers of the parties in the alliance. They have done this with the intention to defame the government and its leaders, as they don’t have any concrete issues to point out,” Kamble said.
Ashok Bhagat, senior inspector, Shivaji Nagar police station, said, “Our cyber team is working on the whereabouts of the rapper and we will issue a notice to him to appear before us for the investigation.” On Tuesday, former CM Uddhav Thackeray called Fadnavis a “worthless” home minister after a woman worker of Thackeray Sena was allegedly assaulted by Shinde’s faction in Thane. The workers of Shinde camp on Monday evening allegedly kicked her in the stomach during a fight over her Facebook post, following which she was hospitalised.
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