Filmmaker Avinash Das detained for sharing Amit Shah’s old photo with tainted IAS officer

According to the FIR, Das shared “a five-year-old photo of Amit Shah on May 8, 2022, to allegedly mislead people and defame the reputation of Shah”. Das was also booked in the same FIR on charges of insulting the national flag by allegedly sharing a “morphed picture of a woman wearing a Tricolour” on Facebook.

“Das was detained from his residence in Mumbai and will be brought to Ahmedabad,” said a senior officer of Ahmedabad DCB. Police sources said the DCB team had been camping in Mumbai for one week to arrest Das, who is expected to be brought to the crime branch headquarters by Tuesday night. No arrest has been recorded so far.

Das, 46, hails from Darbhanga in Bihar and is the director of the critically acclaimed movie “Anaarkali of Aarah”, the Netflix series ‘She’, and the Zee5 movie “Raat Baaki Hai”. He stays in Mumbai with his wife and children.

Das was booked under IPC section 469 (forgery), section 67 of the IT Act and sections of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, based on the complaint from K P Patel, a Technical PSI with Ahmedabad DCB.

Following the FIR, Das had moved the Bombay High Court for a transit pre-arrest bail plea, which was rejected on May 24. Subsequently, he moved a sessions court in Ahmedabad for anticipatory bail, which was rejected on June 7.

Das had then moved the Gujarat High Court for anticipatory bail, which was rejected on June 27. The High Court also rejected his offer of issuing an unconditional apology, and ruled that it is “prima facie clear that the act (of allegedly insulting the national flag) was “deliberate and not unintentional”.

Das had subsequently moved the Supreme Court for anticipatory bail. The plea was expected to be taken up on July 22.

According to the police, DCB teams went to Mumbai twice in June to apprehend Das but did not proceed due to the bail pleas pending in courts. The DCB had also approached a court in Ahmedabad for an order to ask Twitter to pull down the picture, which was posted by Das, of Shah and Singhal.

On May 6 this year, the ED conducted raids at 18 locations in four states, including premises linked to Jharkhand Mining Secretary Pooja Singhal, as part of its probe in a case of money laundering involving the alleged diversion of MGNREGA funds. Singhal was arrested on May 11 in the case.

(With Sohini Ghosh)