Goa police questions man over anti-Modi Facebook comments

The Goa Police cyber cell Monday seized a laptop, a hard drive and an internet dongle used by 31-year-old Devu Chodankar and also questioned him for over seven hours for uploading comments critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on social network Facebook.

Chodankar was accompanied by his lawyer Jatin Naik during the questioning led by Superintendent of Police (Crime) Kartik Kashyap.

"They wanted to know why he had uploaded the comments, why his comments were harsh etc," Naik told reporters after the interrogation.

Both Chodankar and his lawyer have been accusing the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) of victimising the shipbuilding professional and stifling freedom of speech on the social media.

"My client is being harassed. He had written the post after the BJP inducted Sri Ram Sene chief Pramod Muthalik just before the election. But after he was thrown out of the party, Devu deleted the post," the lawyer said.

Acting on a complaint filed by Atul Pai Kane, a former head of the Goa chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industries and also a BJP sympathiser, police have been trying for Devu's arrest for over a month now.

Civil society protests, however, forced police to tone down their aggressive pursuit and Chief Minister Parrikar was even forced to admit that an arrest in such a case was not necessary.