Nagpur:
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday refuted allegations that police is shielding Nagpur-based journalist Prashant Koratkar, who is accused of making offensive remarks against Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and his son Chhatrapati Sambhaji during a phone call with a historian.
Asked about reports of Mr Koratkar being in Dubai, Mr Fadnavis told reporters that news on the issue was being put out without verification.
“Police are looking for him and action will be taken against him wherever he is, whether it is Dubai or anywhere else,” the CM asserted.
Speculation of Mr Koratkar having fled to the Middle East to escape arrest was doing the rounds after some photographs of him abroad surfaced online.
Mr Koratkar was booked on February 26 for allegedly threatening Kolhapur-based historian Indrajeet Sawant and making derogatory comments against Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and his warrior-son Sambhaji Maharaj.
The Kolhapur police had registered a case against the Nagpur resident under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for promoting hatred or enmity between groups and other offences.
On March 18, the court of Additional sessions judge D V Kashyap in Kolhapur had rejected his anticipatory bail plea.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)