Cricketer Prithvi Shaw’s ‘Fan Nightmare’: Selfie Row, Baseball Bat Attack

Mumbai: 

An argument over selfies quickly escalated into a fight with a baseball bat and a car chase in Mumbai for cricketer Prithvi Shaw, according to a police complaint.

Eight people have been named in the police case for allegedly charging at Mr Shaw and his friend, breaking the windshield of their car and demanding ₹ 50,000.

Those named in the complaint – two of whom have been identified as Shobhit Thakur and Sana or Sapna Gill – have refuted the charges and accused the 23-year-old cricketer of assaulting them first.

Sapna Gill has been arrested, news agency ANI reported.

According to the complaint by Mr Shaw’s friend, the fight began at a luxury hotel near the Mumbai airport in the early hours of Wednesday after two fans – a man and a woman – approached the cricketer for selfies.

After a few pictures, when they refused to back off and demanded more, Mr Shaw called his friend and the manager of the hotel to have the fans removed.

After being kicked out, the fans waited outside for Prithvi and, along with a few others armed with baseball bats, mobbed Mr Shaw, the complaint said.

When Mr Shaw and his friend drove off, they chased the car, intercepted it at a traffic signal near Oshiwara and broke the windshield, it added.

They also demanded ₹ 50,000, threatening to file a fake police case, according to Mr Shaw’s friend.

The allegations, however, have been challenged by those named in the case.

Speaking to the media, Ali Kashif Khan, the lawyer for Sapna Gill, has alleged that Prithvi Shaw assaulted the woman.