Gujarat police register FIR against AAP chief Gadhvi over Twitter post on 'Mann Ki Baat'

Gujarat police's Cyber Cell has registered an FIR against Aam Aadmi Party's state president Isudan Gadhvi for allegedly claiming on Twitter that the central government spent Rs 830 crore on 100 episodes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's radio programme "Mann Ki Baat".

The police said that they filed the FIR on the basis of a written complaint submitted by Sarthak Bhatt associated with BJP's IT cell. The charges against Gadhvi include Section 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 500 (defamation), 505(1)(b) and (c) (publishing rumour or report with intent to cause fear or alarm to the public or inciting people to commit an offence against the state) and 505 (2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes), of Indian Penal Code.

Police said that on April 28, Gadhvi in a tweet, in Gujarati language, claimed, "One episode of Mann Ki Baat costs ₹ 8.3 crore! This means that the Centre has spent ₹ 830 crore on 100 episodes so far. This is too much. BJP workers, mostly who listen to this programme, should protest."

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Police said that based on a complaint filed by BJP leader Sarthak Bhatt, they registered an FIR against Gadhvi and his Twitter handle on the morning of April 30. The FIR has not been made public and is marked as "sensitive" on the state government's website where FIR is posted for public access.

When contacted, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Cyber Crime, JM Yadav told DH, "The FIR has been marked sensitive as we are still verifying the authenticity of his (Gadhvi's) tweet." He said that FIR was registered as Gadhvi's claim without any proof. He added that the investigation is on to verify if "it was Gadhvi who himself tweeted it or his account was hacked or someone else did it."

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Despite repeated attempts, Gadhvi couldn't be contacted for comment. Gadhvi is said to have deleted the Twitter post in question.

However, on April 30, the day FIR was registered, the Twitter handle of the Press Information Bureau (PIB)'s fact check tweeted the screenshot of Gadhvi's tweet to say that his claim was "misleading."

It said, "Claim: PM's one-day #MannKiBaat message costs 8.3 cr & 830 cr have been incurred so far on ads. This Claim is #Misleading. ₹ 8.3 cr is total figure of ads for Mann ki Baat till said date, not for a single episode. Tweet assumes each episode is supported by ads. Which is false."

Meanwhile, the AAP alleged that the BJP, be it in Delhi or Gujarat, was harassing its leaders in order to stop AAP's popularity. AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha said in a press conference in Delhi that "Gujarat state president Isudan Gadhvi was booked for making a political sarcasm but despite allegations of sexual abuse against the BJP leader, no action is taken."

Incidentally, the 100th episode of PM Modi's 'Mann Ki Baat' was also completed on Sunday.