Soon after the video went viral, police registered a case
A Maharashtra man has paid a steep price for social media 'likes' after police picked him up over a reel in which he was seen firing a gun at a newly inaugurated expressway. It was a toy gun.
It was after the man was questioned that police found that the gun in the reel is a toy and special effects were used to make it appear real.
The reel was filmed at the Samruddhi Mahamarg, a big-ticket project to connect Mumbai and Nagpur. The first phase of the expressway, connecting Nagpur and Shirdi, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 11.
Aurangabad police said a reel posted on December 14 featured a tunnel on the expressway. Initially, only an SUV can be seen. Then, a man appears with a shotgun-like firearm as "Salaam Rocky Bhai" -- a hit number from KGF -- plays in the background. The man is then seen firing in the air.
Soon after the video went viral, police registered a case and started a search. They tracked the vehicle's registration number and traced it to Chandrakant Gaikwad. He was taken into custody and the vehicle seized.
During the investigation, however, police found that the firearm is actually a toy gun and that Gaekwad took a friend's help to add special effects to the video.
This incident comes against the backdrop of a growing trend of people posing with weapons and posting pictures and visuals on social media. From time to time, law enforcement authorities issue warnings against posting such visuals. While many of these weapons are illegal, posing with licensed weapons, too, can attract legal action.