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BJP leader Sunil Deodhar seeks journalist Nikhil Wagle’s arrest for anti-Modi post, Pune police scotch possibility

Deodhar had played a key role in the BJP’s victory in several states. He is also known for his proximity to PM Modi

Nikhil WagleWhile Nikhil Wagle did not issue a comment on the police complaint, his team has demanded the arrest of BJP city unit chief Dheeraj Ghate and other BJP leaders who were allegedly at the forefront of the attack on the car in which Wagle was travelling on Thursday. Facebook/Nikhil Wagle

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sunil Deodhar on Sunday said that journalist Nikhil Wagle should be arrested for his “objectionable” comments against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former deputy prime minister L K Advani.

“I have filed an FIR with Pune police against Nikhil Wagle on February 8. Wagle had made an objectionable tweet on February 6,” said Deodhar, an aspirant for the Pune Lok Sabha seat. He had played a key role in the BJP’s victory in several states. Deodhar is also known for his proximity to the Prime Minister.

Deodhar said the Pune police have told him that Wagle will be called for investigation. “The Pune police have told me that Wagle will be called for investigation on February 12, after which they will initiate necessary action in the matter,” he claimed.

“I am expecting an arrest in the case. The FIR has been lodged with the intention that Wagle be arrested… I have been told by the Pune police that the FIR has been forwarded to the legal team,” Deodhar added.

When contacted, Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said they were investigating the matter.

A senior police officer said Wagle is not likely to be arrested in the case. “There is no plan as yet to arrest Wagle… It will be decided only after the investigation is completed,” an official said.

Despite repeated attempts, Wagle was not available for comment.

Meanwhile, Wagle’s team, including Vishwambhar Choudhary and Asim Sarode, has demanded the arrest of BJP city unit chief Dheeraj Ghate and other party leaders who were allegedly at the forefront of the attack on the car in which Wagle was travelling on Thursday.

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Reacting to the incident, Deodhar said no one should take the law into their hands. “The action of BJP workers was not appropriate and similarly Wagle instigating through his objectionable comments against none other than the prime minister of this country was highly condemnable,” he added.

Deodhar said after he lodged an FIR against Wagle, the latter was told by the Pune police not to come to Pune as the “atmosphere was against him”.

“Also, he (Wagle) was told not to leave the residence of Asim Sarode and stay put there. Despite all the advice of the Pune police, Wagle acted against them. The BJP workers were already angry with him because of his objectionable comments against the prime minister,” the BJP leader said.

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.   Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were  asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.     Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More


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