Photographer shocked to find YouTube video falsely claiming he is Mumbai mayor’s husband
Rajesh Vasudev Tawde, a 55-year-old photographer from Lalbaug, found himself at the center of a defamatory YouTube video that falsely claimed he was Mayor Ritu Tawde's husband. Tawde runs a photography studio and classes, and maintains a YouTube channel and Facebook presence to showcase his work. On August 26, around 10:30 PM, a woman living in his building sent him a YouTube Shorts link via WhatsApp.
Upon opening the link, Tawde discovered a video titled "Rajesh Tawde ke pati Ritu Tawde ka jeevan parichay" (The Life of Mayor Ritu Tawde and Her Husband Rajesh Tawde) posted on August 23. The video featured a photograph of Tawde next to Tawde's own photo, labeling him as the mayor's husband. Tawde suspects his photo may have originated from his Facebook account, while the mayor's photo likely came from social media.
The FIR alleges that Tawde learned of the video's creation after checking his YouTube channel, which was established on April 15. The channel had gained around 1,530 subscribers and featured 243 videos introducing political leaders and film personalities. Tawde expressed his concern that the video was created and disseminated with the purpose of defaming him and the mayor, without any verification process. The Mumbai police have registered an FIR and are currently investigating the matter.
Written by urgent.news from The Indian Express's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
