Aurangabad: Rapper booked for 50-khoka diss track about CM Eknath Shinde

Raj Mungase, an Aurangabad-based rapper, was arrested by Ambernath police for allegedly defaming the BJP-Shinde Sena administration in a song. His composition, which was recently uploaded, made references to ’50 khoke, Surat, Guwahati, and Goa’. Just a day before the complaint, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis confronted criticism from the Thackeray Sena for allegedly assaulting a female worker over a social media post critical of some ruling leaders.

Mungase, a resident of Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar), uploaded the video, titled ‘Chor|50 khokhe ekdum ok’ on March 25. With references to Surat, Guwahati and Goa, the song is alleged to have made attacks on the formation of the current Shiv Sena-BJP government.

Following the Shiv Sena rebellion in June of last year, MLAs supporting Eknath Shinde were first relocated to Surat in nearby Gujarat state. They were then transported to Guwahati, Assam. They stopped in Goa on their journey back to Mumbai. The khokha (crore) allusion is thought to allude to the Thackeray Sena’s claim that the rival Sena, headed by Chief Minister Shinde, took crores of rupees in order to destabilise the MVA government and form an alliance with the BJP in order to gain power.

The Shivaji Nagar police in Ambernath East on Tuesday booked Mungase under Sections 501 (printing or engraving defamatory matter), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) and 505(2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill will between classes) of the Indian Penal Code. They filed the FIR following a complaint from Snehal Kamble, a member of the Yuva Sena Core Committee who had stumbled upon the 1.29-minute rap video.

“The rapper’s video is abusive and defamatory towards the current Shiv Sena-BJP government. We suspect Mungase has the backing of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders. His video has been widely shared on social media platforms by MVA leaders and workers of the parties in the alliance. They have done this with the intention to defame the government and its leaders, as they don’t have any concrete issues to point out,” Kamble said.

Ashok Bhagat, senior inspector, Shivaji Nagar police station, said, “Our cyber team is working on the whereabouts of the rapper and we will issue a notice to him to appear before us for the investigation.” On Tuesday, former CM Uddhav Thackeray called Fadnavis a “worthless” home minister after a woman worker of Thackeray Sena was allegedly assaulted by Shinde’s faction in Thane. The workers of Shinde camp on Monday evening allegedly kicked her in the stomach during a fight over her Facebook post, following which she was hospitalised.