'Was never arrested for printing posters,' says accused in 'Modi Hatao' poster case

Three men were arrested from different parts of the capital in March 2023 for posters that read "Modi hatao, desh bachao', that translates into "Remove Modi, save the country".

The accused, according to the police, were arrested because the posters did not have the name of the printing press on them. They have also been charged with defacing public property, the Indian Express reported.

Charges under the IPC's The Press and Registration of Books Act and Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act were slapped against them.

The arrested, who were nabbed on March 20-21, are currently out on bail.

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IE spoke to the accused, who have revealed that they have been printing posters of politicians for a long time, but have never been arrested before.

The three arrested individuals are: 52-year-old Vinod Pundeer, who is the owner of Sai Printers; 29-year-old Sumit Bansal, who is the owner of Global Industries Printing Press; and Pappu Kumar Mahato, a driver who was carrying a few bundles of the posters in his van.

Pundeer told the publication, “We would never do anything illegal. We are simply doing our work. An order was placed for around 50,000 posters by a political leader on March 17. We printed the posters and delivered them to Rouse Avenue within three days. I was picked up late at night after police saw the posters in West Delhi. My wife and children got scared. I didn’t do anything wrong".

Pundeer has also dismissed claims that the posters did not have the names of the printing press. He has revealed that it was "a big order amounting to Rs 1.56 lakhs".

Bansal revealed to the publication that his press has printed posters for several political parties, including the BJP, Congress and AAP.

He also said, “We never take into account the affiliation of the person approaching us with work. We didn’t know it was wrong or illegal. The order amount was close to Rs 1.2 lakh and we have the capacity to print it".

Bansal revealed that he was called by the police on March 20 and was questiioned about the posters. He, however, agreed that he had not printed the name of his company on the posters.

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Mahato, on the other hand, has claimed that his job was to only deliver the posters and that he was not aware of what was printed on them.

His exact comment was, “I was driving the van when the police stopped me. They kept asking me about my affiliation with political parties… I told them the truth. I don’t know if I was carrying something illegal.”

Another person who was not arrested but was named in the case was van owner Vishnu Sharma. According to him, he is not involved with any political party. Bansal's press had booked his van for delivery.

He said, "They pay us about Rs 2,000 per booking. The police came after me when they saw the van with the posters. I was neither driving the van nor pasting the posters. The van is mine."