Kalachowki Police Book YouTuber for Falsely Linking Lalbaug Man to Mayor Ritu Tawde

The Kalachowki Police have registered a case against the operator of a YouTube channel for allegedly creating and circulating a defamatory video that falsely portrayed a Lalbaug-based photography teacher as the husband of Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde.

According to the First Information Report (FIR), the complainant was identified as 55-year-old Rajesh Vasudev Tawde, a photography teacher residing in Lalbaug. Tawde also operates a photography studio in Kankavli. To promote his classes, he runs a YouTube channel named OCL and maintains a Facebook profile under the name Rajesh Tawde, where he regularly posts his photographs and course advertisements.

The matter came to light on the night of August 26 at around 10.30 pm, when a woman residing on the first floor of Tawde's building sent him a YouTube link over WhatsApp. Upon opening the link, Tawde discovered a short video uploaded on a channel titled “GK-Shorts-Videos”. The video carried the heading “Rajneeta Ritu Tawde ke pati Rajesh Tawde ka jeevan parichay” (biography of Rajesh Tawde, husband of politician Ritu Tawde).

The video falsely described Rajesh Tawde as a builder engaged in construction and development work, stated his educational qualification as a commerce graduate, and listed his personal interests as cricket and travelling. Crucially, the video presented Mayor Ritu Tawde as his wife.

Tawde stated in his complaint that his photograph displayed in the clip appeared to have been lifted from his personal Facebook profile, while the Mayor's photograph was sourced from social media platforms. The clip allegedly gave viewers the false impression that he was married to the Mayor.

Police inquiries revealed that the video was uploaded to the platform on August 23. When the complainant reviewed the channel's profile, it showed that the channel had around 1.53K subscribers and 243 videos featuring introductory clips on various political and film personalities.

Tawde submitted screenshots of the channel and the video to the police. According to the complaint, the operator circulated the video without verifying facts or identities, with the alleged intention of defaming both Rajesh Tawde and Mayor Ritu Tawde. The Kalachowki Police have registered the case and are currently investigating the identity of the channel operator.