Mumbai Crime Branch starts investigation into Kirit Somaiya viral video clip

Kirit Somaiya

The Crime Branch of the Mumbai Police has started its investigation regarding a viral video clip that purportedly showed BJP leader Kirit Somaiya in a compromising position, reported news agency ANI.

According to ANI, the Mumbai Police said that Crime branch unit 10 will be investigating the authenticity of the video and the matter. The crime branch will be taking the help of technical experts and cyber experts to investigate the case.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had ordered an inquiry into the matter on Tuesday in the state assembly. Following this, the Mumbai Police has started their investigation.

The Mumbai crime branch has reportedly asked the Marathi news channel to hand over the video clip to the police and the source from which it was aired, reported ANI.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Kirit Somaiya has questioned the authenticity of the viral video and requested Devendra Fadnavis to investigate the allegations and verify the authenticity of the videos.

"A video clip of me was shown on a news channel. Claimed that I have harrassed many women and many such video clips available and complaints received against Me I have never abused any woman Request @Dev_Fadnavis to investigate such allegations and verify the authenticity of Videos," he said in a tweet.

The case of the vrial video has triggered a political storm in Maharashtra. Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) leader Sanjay Raut quoted Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray who had once said, "Don't kill with religion someone who is going to die by his karma."

"We have the values of respectable Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray. He used to say: 'Don't kill with religion someone who is going to die by his karma.' Exactly the same is happening. A lot more will happen. Let's see what happens. Jai Maharashtra!" Sanjay Raut said in a tweet in Marathi.

Congress MLA Yashomati Thakur said that the true face of Kirit Somaiya has come to the fore. She added that the Marathi news channel will now be raided by the central investigative agencies.

"The true face of Somaiya, who tried to create a sensation by making baseless accusations against many leaders, has come in front of everyone. Now supporting this channel is the responsibility of all who believe in democracy. Otherwise, there will be raids by organizations like ED, CBI on this channel as well as the possibility of torture of the journalists of this news channel cannot be ruled out, so our demand is that the government should protect all those journalists," she said in a tweet in Marathi.

(With inputs from ANI)