Man held for posting fake letter in name of Maha Bhushan recipient Appasaheb Dharmadhikari

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A 24-year-old man was arrested from Pune city for allegedly posting on social media a fake letter in the name of Maharashtra Bhushan awardee Appasaheb Dharmadhikari, an official said on Tuesday. The letter had purportedly stated that Dharmadhikari would return the state award given to him recently at a function in Kharghar in Navi Mumbai in view of the heatstroke tragedy which claimed 14 lives after the event.

The arrest was made by Raigad Police which registered an FIR at Revdanda police station based on a complaint lodged by Dharmadhikari's secretary Sandip Patil about the fake letter.

A Raigad police official said a case was registered against Shubham Kale, a commerce graduate from Pune, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including defamation, and the Information Technology Act.

"Kale is arrested for allegedly posting the fake letter. He was on Monday produced before a court in Alibaug which remanded him in police custody for one day. On Tuesday, the court of judicial magistrate first class remanded Kale in judicial custody," officials said.

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Meanwhile, Raigad's Resident Deputy Collector Padmashri Bainade told PTI that the kin of each of the 14 persons who died of sunstroke after the Kharghar function has been paid a compensation of Rs 5 lakh, as announced earlier by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

The amount of compensation for those who fell ill after the event will be paid directly to the hospitals where they underwent treatment, the official said.

A state anti-superstition body has submitted a memorandum to the Raigad collector demanding the registration of a culpable homicide case into the Kharghar incident and an inquiry by a retired judge.

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