'Attack' on cricketer Prithvi Shaw over selfie: Woman social media influencer sent in police custody, two more arrested
Social media influencer Sapna Gill, arrested for allegedly manhandling Indian cricketer Prithvi Shaw over clicking of selfies, claimed before a court in Mumbai on Friday that it was he who hit her.
Shaw even apologised to her and asked not to file a police complaint, she said.
Earlier in the day, a magistrate's court remanded social media influencer Sapna Gill, arrested in the case on Thursday, in police custody till February 20.
Besides original charges of rioting and extortion, Oshiwara Police also invoked Indian Penal Code section 387 (putting a person in fear of death or of grievous hurt in order to commit extortion).
While Gill's friend Shobhit Thakur and others are yet to be traced, two of the accused who had allegedly chased the cricketer's car as he headed for Oshiwara police station after the incident were held on Friday, said an official.
The main accused in the case had called both these men to the spot, he said, adding that their role in the attack had been established.
The incident took place outside a luxury hotel in suburban Santacruz on Wednesday during an argument between Shaw on one side and the social media influencer and her male friend on the other after the cricketer refused to click selfies with her.
During the remand hearing, Gill requested that she be allowed to put forward her version of the incident, which the magistrate allowed.
All the allegations against her were false, Gill said, adding, "He (Shaw) hit me on the chest and arms."
"We were there just to take help of police. They were eight to ten people and we were just two," Gill said.
Further, the influencer claimed that Shaw and his friend asked her not to file a police complaint, said sorry, and left.
On the claim that the incident took place after she asked for a selfie with Shaw, Gill said, "I do not know him, nor I have ever seen him. I never asked for a selfie with him."
Gill also denied the allegation that she had asked for Rs 50,000 to settle the case.
"He was totally drunk. He was in front of a police station, he could have filed the FIR then only," the influencer said. But since Shaw was drunk, he thought of doing that later, Gill claimed.
As per Gill, she and her friend were partying at the VIP lounge of the hotel before Shaw arrived.
Shaw had gone to the hotel, located near the domestic airport, for dinner with his businessman friend when the sequence of events unfolded.
The police complaint was lodged by Shaw's friend and flatmate Ashish Yadav who runs a cafe.
Thakur and Gill approached Shaw for a selfie at the hotel and initially the cricketer obliged them, said the complaint.
But they insisted on clicking more selfies and Shaw refused, Yadav told police.
Gill and Thakur, who were in an inebriated condition, then started arguing with Shaw, the complaint said. The hotel manager asked Gill and Thakur to leave, it added.
Later, when Shaw and Yadav were leaving the hotel after dinner, they saw Thakur holding a baseball bat in hand. After they sat in their car, the accused attacked the windshield of the vehicle with the baseball bat, the complaint said.
Shaw was also allegedly manhandled by Gill. Sensing more trouble, the cricketer was shifted to another car while Yadav and others drove his vehicle to Oshiwara, he said.
Yadav saw three motorcycles and a white-coloured car chasing their vehicle. Around 4 am, those following him attacked his car when it was taking a U-turn near a petrol pump on Link Road. Thakur, who was one of them, broke the rear windshield of the car with the baseball bat, he alleged.
Based Yadav's complaint, the Oshiwara police registered a First Information Report against Gill and seven others under Indian Penal Code sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 148 (rioting), 384 (extortion), 506 (criminal intimidation) and others offences.
