Indian cricketer Prithvi Shaw was reportedly physically assaulted and had his car vandalized with a baseball bat outside a hotel in Mumbai's Santacruz area. The incident occurred after an argument with a social media influencer named Sapna Gill and her male friend Shobhit Thakur. Apparently, Shaw declined to take selfies with Gill, which led to the altercation. The incident happened during the early hours of Wednesday.
Following the incident, the Oshiwara Police arrested Gill and booked seven other individuals for allegedly attempting to intimidate Shaw by damaging his vehicle and threatening to frame him in a false case.
Who is Sapna Gill?
Sapna Gill, 31, is a resident of Mumbai but originally hails from Chandigarh. She is a social media influencer with more than 220,000 followers on Instagram. She shares a variety of content spanning from entertainment and dance videos to fashion photography.
She has acted in various productions including Kashi Amarnath, Nirhua Chalal London, Mera Watan, Ravi Kishan, and Dinesh Lal Yadav.
Sapna has also starred in Bhojpuri films, sharing the screen with notable names like Ravi Kishan and Dinesh Lal Yadav.
Apart from Instagram, Gill has a strong presence on several other online platforms, including the video-sharing app Josh, Snapchat, and YouTube.
About the Prithvi Shaw-Sapna Gill fight:
According to police officials, on Thursday afternoon, Gill was summoned to the police station for questioning. Following a preliminary inquiry that suggested her involvement in the crime, she was arrested.
However, Gill's lawyer claimed that his client was only a fan of Shaw and wanted to take a selfie with him. He alleged that the cricketer was drunk and behaved inappropriately with her.
Gill's lawyer also accused Shaw of assaulting the influencer with a baseball bat and abusing his power and position, while the police claimed that Gill and Thakur were also inebriated during the incident. A video of the incident has gone viral, showing Shaw being manhandled.
Watch the viral video here:
The complaint was filed by Shaw's friend and flatmate Ashish Yadav, who runs a cafe and has been living with Shaw for the past three years. According to the complaint, Thakur and Gill approached Shaw at a hotel for a selfie, which he initially allowed. However, they insisted on taking more photos, which Shaw refused.
Gill and Thakur then started arguing and misbehaving with the cricketer, prompting the hotel manager to intervene and ask them to leave. Later, while Shaw and Yadav were leaving the hotel, they saw Thakur holding a baseball bat. After they got into their car, the accused attacked the windshield of the vehicle with the bat, and Gill also manhandled Shaw.
The cricketer was then moved to another car, and Yadav's group was chased by the accused in three motorcycles and a white car. They were attacked near a petrol pump when they were taking a U-turn, and Thakur broke the car's rear windshield with the baseball bat. The accused then abused Yadav and his companions, threatening to lodge a false police complaint against them unless they paid Rs. 50,000 to settle the matter.
Yadav subsequently filed a complaint against the accused at the Oshiwara police station.
(With PTI inputs)
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