Avinash Das: Filmmaker arrested for tweeting 'controversial' photo of Amit Shah

Filmmaker Avinash Das has been a vocal critic of the ruling government

A filmmaker has been arrested for tweeting a photo that showed India's home minister with an official accused of corruption.

Avinash Das had shared the photo of Amit Shah with Pooja Singhal, who has been arrested in a corruption case.

Ms Singhal was arrested in May in a case of money laundering. She denies the allegations against her.

Das is the second high-profile person to be arrested in recent weeks over a social media post.

Last month, police arrested journalist and fact-checker Mohammed Zubair for a tweet posted in 2018.

Police in the western state of Gujarat had filed a complaint against Mr Das in June, saying his post aimed to mislead people and tarnish Mr Shah's image. The police also filed a separate case against Mr Das for sharing a photo of a woman wearing the national flag on his Facebook and Instagram pages. India law doesn't allow the national flag to be used as garments.

On Monday, he was arrested in Mumbai city.

To avoid arrest, the filmmaker had approached the high court in Gujarat in June to get pre-arrest bail, but his plea was rejected. He has now approached the Supreme Court which will hear his petition on Friday.

Mr Das is best known for directing Bollywood film Anaarkali of Aarah in 2012 and the 2022 Netflix series She.