The Mumbai Police has arrested a 36-year-old man in Gujarat for allegedly giving a rape threat on Twitter to the daughter of Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi, an official said today.


Girish Maheshwari was arrested from Bavla near Ahmedabad late last night, a senior police official said.


The accused was being brought to Mumbai and would be produced in the Dindoshi court later in the day, he said.


Image: Priyanka Chaturvedi.
Following a directive from the Union Home Ministry, the police had registered a case against Twitter user '@GirishK1605' for threatening to rape Chaturvedi's 10-year-old daughter.


Chaturvedi has said she had to face a stream of abuses on Twitter after a fake quote on the recent gang-rape of a seven-year-old in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur was attributed to her.


Chaturvedi tweeted today, "I would like to thank @MumbaiPolice , @DelhiPolice , especially @IPSMadhurVerma and @CPDelhi . Also my gratitude to @HMOIndia & @rajnathsingh ji for taking this up."


The case was registered under Section 509 (word, gesture intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code, and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, on Tuesday after the Congress spokesperson filed a complaint. -- PTI