Indian-origin doctor detained for posts a part of ‘larger effort to malign’ PM Modi: Police tells HC

The Mumbai Police has claimed that the visit of British doctor Sangram Patil to India on a tourist visa and his activities on social media were part of a “larger, organised effort” to post defamatory and inflammatory material about Prime Minister Narendra Modi while living outside the country, Bar and Bench reported on Thursday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detection) Raj Tilak Roushan, in an affidavit filed in the Bombay High Court, described this as a matter of serious concern, Live Law reported.

The affidavit was in response to a criminal writ petition filed by Patil, who is also a content creator, seeking the quashing of a first information report and a lookout circular filed against him over “objectionable” posts about Bharatiya Janata Party leaders.

The lookout circular is used by law enforcement authorities to check whether a person entering or leaving the country is wanted by the police.

The FIR against the Indian-origin doctor was based on a complaint by BJP leader Nikhil Bhamre, who in December, alleged Patil had deliberately made allegedly defamatory and misleading posts about the Hindutva party and its leaders. The online posts could create feelings of enmity and hatred between groups, Bhamre claimed.

Patil’s YouTube channel has over four lakh subscribers and 5.6 crore views, and his Facebook page has more than...

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