MUMBAI police on Monday arrested Sainath Durge, a Yuva Sena office-bearer considered close to Aaditya Thackeray, in the case related to the “morphed” video of former corporator Sheetal Mhatre, who is a spokesperson of the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. With Durge's arrest, the number of arrests in the case has gone up to five. While two persons were arrested on Sunday, three persons, including one who handles Matoshree's Facebook page, were arrested on Monday. Dahisar police registered an FIR on Sunday after the “morphed” video went viral. The video shows Mhatre and party MLA Prakash Surve along with Shinde atop a vehicle at a rally. At one point, Mhatre is seen leaning towards Surve and pecking him on the cheek. Dahisar police had arrested two persons - Ashok Mishra and Manas Kunwar.- on Sunday. "We arrested three more persons today bringing the total arrests in the case to five. They were produced before court and remanded in police custody till March 15," senior inspector Pravin Patil of Dahisar police station said. "Those arrested today are Vinayak Davre, who handles the Facebook page of Matoshree, one Ravindra Choudhary and Durge." An officer said that apart from the FIR against the accused, another FIR has been registered at the Samta Nagar police station against a person named Rajesh Gupta, who shared the video on social media. Shinde faction leaders reached his residence and questioned him about sharing the video. Later, police was informed and an FIR was registered against Gupta, who was arrested. On Monday, Mhatre met Mumbai Police Joint Commissioner (law & order) Satyanarayan Choudhary alleging that two persons followed her car on a bike when she was passing Shivaji Park. "I suspect the two persons were following me as they were pointing fingers at me. I have informed police about the incident," Mhatre told mediapersons on Monday. Earlier, Mhatre had said the video was morphed to defame her and hinted that workers of Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) circulated it online. Based on her complaint, police had registered the FIR under sections 354 (molestation), 509 (outraging modesty), 500 (defamation) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC and Section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of the IT Act.
