Young Team India batter Prithvi Shaw finds himself in the midst of controversy involving a fan who was waiting to click selfie with him. The incident took place on Wednesday, February 15, night outside a luxury hotel in Santacruz, Mumbai.
Cops revealed that the cricketer had gone to the hotel for dinner with his friend. Sapna Gill, a social media influencer, and her friend Shobhit Thakur
approached Shaw for a selfie. The opening batter initially obliged. After clicking a few pictures, the duo insisted on clicking more selfies, but Shaw refused, which led to an argument.
Later, when Shaw and his friend Ashish Yadav were leaving the hotel, they saw Thakur with a baseball bat in hand. According to the reports, Thakur is said to have smashed the windshield of Shaw’s vehicle with the baseball bat. There are also allegations that the cricketer was manhandled by Sapna Gill over his refusal to oblige for more selfies.
According to the Indian cricketer’s friend and flatmate Yadav, both Gill and Thakur were in an intoxicated state and started arguing with Shaw for refusing to click selfies. The complaint filed by him stated that the hotel manager even asked Gill and Thakur to leave.
Shaw was shifted to another car while Yadav and others drove his vehicle to Oshiwara.
The complaint alleged that three motorcycles and a white-colored car were chasing their vehicle. Around 4 a.m., the car was attacked by people following them when it was taking a U-turn near a petrol pump. Yadav claimed Thakur broke the rear windshield of the car with a baseball bat.
Based on the complaint filed by Shaw’s friend, the Oshiwara police in Mumbai registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Gill and seven others under Indian Penal Code sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 148 (rioting), 384 (extortion), 506 (criminal intimidation) and other offenses.
Gill was arrested on Thursday, February 16, for allegedly manhandling Shaw and has been remanded to police custody till February 20. While Thakur and others have not been traced yet, two of the accused who allegedly chased the cricketer’s car were nabbed on Friday.
During a hearing in a Mumbai court on Friday, February 17, Gill accused Shaw of hitting her, claiming that the cricketer even apologized to her and requested that she not file a police complaint.
However, Gill dismissed all the allegations leveled against her and told the court. She also said that she didn’t know who Prithvi Saw was.
“My friend had asked him for the selfie. I didn’t even know he is a cricketer. We were only two and Prithvi shaw was with his eight friends. It’s all wrong that they had food in the hotel, we were partying in the club, and he was drunk. The police asked us to end the matter,” she said.
While talking to the media, Sapna Gill’s lawyer said that the allegations levelled by Mr Shaw are false.
“Today we put our stand in the court that the allegations levelled by Prithvi Shaw are all wrong. In the next hearing, we will demand judicial custody of Sapna and as soon as the court grants it, we will appeal for bail, police have added Section 387,” he said.
