'I wanted to become famous', says youth held for Dawood birthday post

The Facebook post

A 22-year-old resident of Dongri has been arrested by the Anti-Extortion Cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch for posting birthday greetings to Dawood Ibrahim on his Facebook timeline, allegedly after celebrating the underworld don's birthday.

The man has been identified as Azahar Firoj Maniyar, aka Shera Chikna. According to the crime branch, Chikna had posted pictures of a birthday cake with Dawood's name on it, and an old photograph of the don, in a post. It immediately went viral on social media. The crime branch took cognisance of the post and tracked Chikna. During interrogation, he told the crime branch that he wanted to become famous and hence, used Dawood's photograph in the post.

The cake, he told cops, was actually from a birthday celebration of a friend, Dawood Hasmi. Chikna told the police that he wanted to increase the number of friends on his Facebook list, and thought mentioning the don's name, would make him famous. "We have recorded his statement as well as that of his friend Dawood, whose birthday he claims to have celebrated a few days ago," a cop said. The officers will also record statements of other friends, present at the birthday celebration.

The Anti-Extortion Cell is yet to give Chikna a clean chit. Chikna had allegedly threatened a local journalist for writing an online article about his post, following which the scribe registered an NC with the Goregaon police station. Crime Branch DCP Shahaji Umap said, "Our inquiry on the viral post, is currently underway."

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