Mumbai: The crime branch of the Mumbai Police arrested a 34-year-old man from Pune after his alleged death threats issued against NCP chief Sharad Pawar. The City police identified the arrested individual as Sagar Barve and as an employee of an IT firm.
According to the officials, the suspect was presented before a court which remanded him to judicial custody till June 13. He will be produced before the court tomorrow. The police sources said they will be seeking the suspect's custody for further investigation in the case. The techie had allegedly created two fake social media accounts for sending death threats to Sharad Pawar, police said.
"Mumbai crime branch arrested a 34-year-old man from Pune in connection with a threat call to NCP chief Sharad Pawar. The accused has been identified as Sagar Barve. The police produced him in a court today where the court has sent him to police custody till Tuesday," Mumbai Police said.
On May 9, Supriya Sule revealed that she had receive a threatening message, directed at her father on WhatsApp. She labelled the threat as 'low-level politics'. She said "this should stop," when she came to report the incident to the Mumbai City Police Commissioner.
"I received a message on WhatsApp for Pawar Sahab. He was threatened through a website. So, I have come to the Police demanding justice. I urge Maharashtra Home Minister and Union Home Minister to act. Such actions represent low-level politics and should stop," Sule said on Friday. She warned that she would hold the Central and State Home departments responsible if justice isn't done.
Read-Threat to Sharad Pawar: Supriya Sule meets Mumbai CP; CM assures on safety
"The police have been informed. The Home Department also needs to intervene in this matter. Politics should be set aside in such cases," Sule added. The NCP leader told the police that Pawar senior received a separate threat message on Facebook as well. The message cautioned Pawar that he will "meet the same fate as Narendra Dabholkar (a rationalist who was shot dead in 2013)".
Following the complaint, the Mumbai Police had registered a case against two people in connection with the anonymous death threat to Pawar. The case was booked under sections 153(A), 504 and 506(2) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
CM Eknath Shinde asked the police to beef up security for the former CM Sharad Pawar. Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis had also said that although there are ideological differences with the NCP, issuing threats to a prominent Opposition leader won't be tolerated.
