Police file charge sheet against Marathi actor Ketaki Chitale in 2020 case

NAVI MUMBAI: The Navi Mumbai Police has filed a charge sheet against Marathi actor Ketaki Chitale for a Facebook post in 2020 that was alleged to make derogatory comments on Buddhism. The actor was arrested in this case on May 19, days after she got into trouble over a social media post against Natonalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar.

“We have made a strong charge sheet and included statements of various WhatsApp members as well wherein the controversial comment she made on Facebook was circulated,” assistant commissioner of police, Vashi division, DD Tele said.

Chitale (29), a film and TV actress, has been in jail after her arrest on May 14 in connection with multiple cases registered against her for a social media post attacking Sharad Pawar, which she said was written by someone else and was shared by her. The cases have been registered under sections pertaining to deflation, spreading disharmony among people and promoting enmity and hatred between classes.

The 2020 case against Ketaki Chitale was registered under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

“All the sections mentioned in the FIR are mentioned in the chargesheet,” said police officer Tele.

Lawyer Swapnil Jagtap, who filed the March 2020 complaint against Ketaki Chitale, said his three friends from Pune who were a part of the WhatsApp group where the Facebook post was circulated, recorded their statements before a team from Rabale police station.

The lawyer said they had opposed her bail request at a hearing by a Navi Mumbai court on Tuesday. “The same court earlier rejected her anticipatory bail before her arrest in this case and yet, during that course of time, she made derogatory comments against NCP Supremo Sharad Pawar… She is an actress and a comment by her influences public opinion. In such a situation, she should be more responsible while making any comments. It seems like she has been acting on someone’s orders as she has been acting very strategically which we presented before the court,” Jagtap said.

Ketaki Chitale has trashed the charges against her, arguing in a petition filed in the Bombay high court that she was being targeted to scare people into silence. She described the first information report filed against her after a post on Sharad Pawar as “abuse of process of law” and asked the high court to cancel the FIRs.

On Saturday, a group of lawyers also met Maharashtra governor BS Koshyari to seek a CBI probe into the cases involving actor Ketaki Chitale for an impartial probe. The group also sought an inquiry into the alleged assault on Chitale outside Kalamboli police station while she was being arrested on May 14.