Surat-based businessman Mahesh Savani, who had joined Aam Aadmi Party a few weeks ago, was caught peddling fake news against the Gujarat government on Facebook.
On Sunday, AAP leader Mahesh Savani took to Facebook to share an image of power lines supported by a tree instead of electric poles and claimed that the Gujarat government has failed to repair the power infrastructure in the state, two months after Cyclone Tauktae hit the state.
Taking a dig at the Gujarat model and PM Modi’s vision of ‘Digital India’, the Aam Aadmi Party leader peddled disinformation, saying that the people of Gujarat have become self-dependant and repaired the power supply on their own by using a tree.
However, in reality, the image shared by Savani is not related to India, instead, the image was captured in Pakistan.
A few weeks back, the same image was posted on Twitter by a Pakistani journalist named Khalid Mahmood Khalid. According to Khalid, the image was taken from Sindh province in Pakistan.
In his tweet in Urdu, Khalid mocked the Pakistani government, saying, “The Sindh government has introduced cheap electricity poles with ancient technology. Note: There is no risk of electric shock from this pole. Government of Sindh is at the forefront of public service”.
https://twitter.com/samaylive/status/1414114096975421440?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwIn his hurry to propagate lies against the Gujarat government and show the country in a poor light, AAP leader Mahesh Savani resorted to peddling blatant fake news.
Who is Mahesh Savani?
Recently, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal had welcomed Surat businessman Mahesh Savani into Aam Aadmi Party ahead of the Gujarat state assembly elections likely to be held in December 2022. The move, however, garnered intense criticism as Savani, a top realtor from Surat, was arrested in 2020 on allegations of extortion and kidnapping.
Savani, who also owns several educational institutes and is also an alleged social worker, was accused of kidnapping Gautam Patel (65) from his house and demanding Rs 19 crore for his release.
Patel and his business partner, who is now deceased, had allegedly borrowed money from Savani for an infrastructure project. Patel, who was liable to pay Rs 3 crore, could not do so, hence offered 60 per cent share in a plot of land. However, Savani could not recover his money and allegedly hatched a plan to kidnap Patel when he arrived in India for his son’s marriage.
Patel’s kidnapping by Savani and his aides was reportedly captured in the former’s CCTV footage installed at his residence.