Belagavi: BJP MLC Mahantesh Kavatagimath from Belagavi on Tuesday allegedly posted nearly 50 pornographic photographs on an official WhatsApp group meant for sharing news and intimations between government officers and media.
The WhatsApp group comprises senior officials including deputy commissioner, police officials of various ranks, the Belagavi police commissioner, Belagavi district superintendent of police, police inspectors, member of parliament, Zilla Panchayat members, city councillors, women officials of various departments, social activists and representatives of media houses.
Kavatagimath, around 4.20 pm, posted over 56 PDF files that comprised over 50 pictures of nude women from his official mobile phone. Sharing objectionable contents on social media platforms is a serious offence and violation of cyber laws.
There was an uproar in WhatsApp as soon as the images were shared, causing the administrator of the group to remove Kavatangimath from the group.
Apologising for the incident, Kavatagimath said that the messages were forwarded by mistake and had not been done intentionally. He said that the incident occurred while he was on a flight and was switching off the phone when it hanged and the messages got forwarded.
“Why would I share porn in a group with journalists?” he said.
