Case Filed Against Marathi Rapper For 'Defaming' Maharashtra Government

Police in Maharashtra's Thane district has registered a case against a Marathi rapper for allegedly defaming the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government though his video song.

A Shiv Sena activist at Ambernath in the district had lodged a complaint against rap singer Raj Mungase over a song he recently uploaded on YouTube which uses words such as "pannas khoke" (fifty cartons) and "chor" (thieves), said a police official on Thursday.

A First Information Report (FIR) was registered on Tuesday against Mr Mungase under Indian Penal Code sections 501 (defamation), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) and 505(2) (statements creating enmity between classes) at Shivajinagar police station in Ambernath, he added.

No arrest has been made, the official said.

Leaders loyal to Uddhav Thackeray have often accused the MLAs of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena who rebelled last year and brought down the Thackeray government as "chor" and ones who took "khoke" or cartons of money to switch sides.

Mr Shinde became chief minister last year with the BJP's support after splitting the Shiv Sena.

Incidentally, Nationalist Congress Party leader and former minister Jitendra Awhad had on Tuesday shared Mungase's video song on Twitter and said that he hoped police would not arrest him.

In a fresh tweet on Thursday, Mr Awhad questioned what crime Mr Mungase had committed.

Earlier this week, a woman worker of the Thackeray faction alleged that workers of the rival Shiv Sena attacked her over her Facebook post criticizing CM Shinde. The Shinde group denied the allegations.

Thane city police, though, has registered a case of defamation against her for the Facebook post.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)