Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Bala Nandgaonkar has complained to the police against news magazine Tehelka for its cover story portraying the late Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray as a terrorist.
A station diary entry was made at the Shivaji Park police station on Saturday. “So far we have only received a complaint against Tehelka . We will decide on further action after seeking a legal view,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Mahesh Patil told The Hindu .
On its cover titled, ‘Who is the biggest terrorist?’ the magazine has the photographs of Thackeray along with those of executed convict of the 1993 Mumbai blasts Yakub Memon, underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and late Sikh extremist leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Inside, it carried a photograph of Thakeray, flanked by senior BJP leader L.K. Advani and late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan.
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“Mr. Thackeray has been compared to Yakub Memon and Afzal Guru. What do you mean by terrorist? The story uses provocative language. Yakub was given full opportunity to place his case. Courts were opened at wee hours for him. And still the State and the Supreme Court are criticised?” Mr. Nandgaonkar said.
Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray dismissed the story taking a dig at the alleged rape case against former Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal. “We know what kind of people they are,” he said.
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Commenting on the complaint, Mathew Samuel, Tehelka ’s Managing Editor, who wrote the story, said: “I believe in freedom of the press. I stick to my story. What I have done is not new. I only put out the findings of the Justice Srikrishna report, which is already in public domain.”