Pune Activist Santosh Pandit Arrested Over Allegedly Derogatory Remarks About Minister Chandrakant Patil and Female Corporator

Pune Police arrested popular social activist and content creator Santosh Pandit from his home at 1 a.m. on Thursday following allegations of making defamatory, obscene, and derogatory remarks against Maharashtra Higher Education Minister Chandrakant Patil and a female local corporator. Pandit is widely known across social media platforms for posting videos that highlight pressing civic problems, urban infrastructure issues, and alleged traffic rule violations committed by local politicians and public representatives in Pune. His YouTube channel currently commands a massive following, boasting over 13 lakh subscribers and accumulating more than 117 crore total views.

The police action was initiated following a formal complaint registered by a female corporator who is a close political associate of Minister Patil. According to the complaint, Pandit allegedly used derogatory and offensive language against Patil, a prominent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, in one of his recent online video uploads. The complainant alleged that the activist deliberately made these remarks to tarnish the political image and reputation of the minister.

While the police complaint did not explicitly name the specific video in question, Pandit had recently published content criticizing the poor quality and execution of ongoing civic infrastructure projects in Pune’s Kothrud constituency, where Patil currently serves as the elected Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA).

Following the complaint, law enforcement authorities booked Pandit under various relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The charges include making sexually-colored remarks, criminal defamation, and intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of the public peace. Additionally, police invoked provisions under the Information Technology Act against the activist for allegedly transmitting and publishing obscene material across digital platforms. The sudden late-night arrest of the civic activist has drawn significant public attention and sparked widespread debate across local political and civil society circles in Pune.