Nagpur: After a court order, Pallavi Koratkar, wife of controversial portal editor Prashant Koratkar, handed over her husband’s mobile phone and SIM card to Nagpur’s cyber police on Monday. Prashant, who is booked in two separate cases for abusing and threatening historian Indrajeet Sawant, is still on the run.
Nagpur cyber police will now hand over the mobile phone and SIM card of Koratkar to their Kolhapur counterparts as part of the bail condition. The mobile phone and SIM were sealed as per the law.
Koratkar is currently under the protection of the ad-interim bail granted in the first case until March 11, when the case will be heard again. Koratkar is yet to receive any relief in the second case which was registered at Beltarodi police station and sent to Kolhapur police following a complaint from a group of activists.
Why delay in the arrest of Koratkar?
A descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Kolhapur MP, Shahu Shahaji Maharaj, has questioned the delay in the arrest of Nagpur-based journalist Prashant Koratkar for his alleged objectionable remarks in an audio clip that refers to historical depictions in the blockbuster movie, Chhaava.
Shahu Maharaj, who was on an official visit to Nagpur on Monday, said he would meet CM Devendra Fadnavis in the coming days to raise the issue. “Koratkar should have been arrested by now. I don’t know why this hasn’t happened. CM Fadnavis is coming to Kolhapur on March 6, and I will take up this issue with him,” he told the media.
Earlier in the day, he visited the residence of former Maharashtra Minister Anil Deshmukh, who also demanded action against Koratkar. “It seems that Koratkar is under the protection of someone powerful. His whereabouts are unknown, but one wonders how that happened. There were police personnel posted outside his house. How did he disappear despite the security cordon?” Deshmukh questioned.