Prithvi Shaw selfie case: Two more arrested by Mumbai police, Sapna Gill sent to police custody till Feb 20

MUMBAI, (ANI): A local court in Mumbai sent social media influencer Sapna Gill, who was arrested in the case of an alleged attack on cricketer Prithvi Shaw’s car and manhandling him, to police custody till February 20. She was produced before the Andheri magistrate’s Court in suburban Mumbai by the Oshiwara Police.

Meanwhile, the Oshiwara Police detained two more people in the case and they are being questioned. They are likely to be arrested later on. Shaw was allegedly manhandled and his car was attacked with a baseball bat outside a hotel in the Santacruz area of Mumbai, following an argument with the woman social media influencer and her friend Shobit Thakur after the batter refused to click more selfies with the influencer.

The incident took place in the early hours of Wednesday. A complaint about the incident was filed by Shaw’s friend Ashish Yadav, who is his flatmate for the last three years and runs a cafe.

The Oshiwara Police arrested Gill on Thursday and seven others have been booked for allegedly trying to intimidate the cricketer by damaging his car and threatening to implicate him in a fake case. The Police recorded the statement of Shaw’s friend Ashish Yadav again on Tuesday.

Yadav told the police that the accused had threatened to kill him. After Yadav’s statement, the police added Section 387 (putting a person in fear of death or of grievous hurt, in order to commit extortion) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to the FIR.

“The accused had given life threats to Yadav. IPC Sec 387 added to the FIR,” Mumbai Police said. Oshiwara Police registered a case under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 148 (rioting), 384 (extortion), 506 (criminal intimidation) and some other sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) based on the complaint.

Gill’s lawyer argued that the influencer was a fan of Shaw and wanted to take a selfie with him but the cricketer was drunk and misbehaved with her. He also accused the batter of assaulting Gill with a wooden bat. Yadav dismissed the claim made by Sapna Gill’s lawyer and said that whatever allegations are being made by the accused are all wrong.

Police said that Gill and Thakur were in an intoxicated state during the incident. Talking about the video which is being widely circulated on social media in which Prithvi Shaw is seen holding a stick, Yadav said, “When we came out of the hotel, the accused woman and her friend attacked our car thrice with a stick. Only then did Prithvi Shaw and I get down of the car and when Prithvi Shaw saw that the stick was in the hands of the woman, he wanted to snatch that stick so that it could not attack the glass again. Whatever allegations are being made by the lawyer of the accused are all wrong, and the police have called me again for questioning.”

As per the complaint, the cricketer was approached by Gill and Thakur for a selfie at the hotel and Shaw initially allowed them to get clicked with him. But when they insisted on getting more pictures, Shaw turned down the demand, following which Gill and her friend started misbehaving with the cricketer in an inebriated condition.

On seeing this, the hotel manager intervened and asked both Gill and Thakur to vacate the premises. Following the incident, Shaw and Yadav had dinner at the hotel. But when they stepped out, they saw Thakur holding a baseball bat in his hand, the compliant said. The accused went on to attack the windshield of the car and Shaw was also manhandled by Gill, it said. The cricketer was shifted to another car while Yadav and others drove his vehicle to Oshiwara.

Yadav said three motorcycles and a white-colored car were chasing their vehicle. At 4 am, the chasers attacked his car while it was taking a u-turn near a petrol pump on Link Road, he said. Thakur was one of the persons chasing the vehicle and attacked its windshield with a bat, the complaint said.

Six persons on motorcycles along with Gill and Thakur, who were both sitting in a car, abused Yadav and his friends, the complaint said, adding that Yadav took the car to Oshiwara police station. The eight accused followed Yadav to the station and threatened him to pay Rs 50,000 to settle the issue or else she would lodge a fake police complaint against them, as per police.

Following this, Yadav filed a complaint against the accused. (ANI)