Mumbai, Sep 19 (IANS): Maharashtra's ruling NCP has lodged a case with the Cyber Crime Branch alleging that its President and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's Facebook page was hacked by some unknown persons and objectionable content posted on it.

NCP's state General Secretary and Treasurer Shivajirao Garje has demanded an investigation into the hacking incident and strict legal action against those who deliberately spread fake news on social media by taking screenshots of the party chief's hacked Facebook page.

"By taking fake screenshots of Deputy Chief Minister Ajitdada Pawar's official Facebook page, there is a pattern of deliberately defaming his image on social media," said Garje saying that the content uploaded on the party chief's Facebook page is blatantly mischievous.

He also indicated that it is an attempt to malign the image of Ajit Pawar and the NCP ahead of upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

The NCP leader noted that the hacking of Ajit Pawar's Facebook page and uploading of objectionable content took place when Ajit Pawar had been engaged in taking out his Jan Sanman Yatra to promote the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana and other welfare and development schemes. It was also an attempt to increase NCP's outreach to voters and the makeover of the party in the run-up to upcoming Assembly elections, he said.

Garje said Pawar was on a tour of Maharashtra for the last one and a half months, interacting with various sections of the society and promoting various schemes of the government across the state.

"The Jan Sanman Yatra is getting great response across the state. Due to this, some people are deliberately trying to the malign image of Ajitd Pawar," he claimed.