Nearly two years after he was appointed managing director of Twitter India, Manish Maheshwari is moving to the microblogging platform’s US operations in a new role, the company said on Friday.
Maheshwari, who joined Twitter India from Network 18 in April 2009, will take up the position of Senior Director, Revenue Strategy and Operations, at the US-based firm, a spokesperson for Twitter said.
“Thank you to @manishm for your leadership of our Indian business over the past 2+ year. Congrats on your new US-based role in charge of revenue strategy and operations for new markets worldwide.
Excited to see you lead this important growth opportunity for Twitter,” Yu Sasamoto, VP of Twitter in JAPAC, said in a tweet.
Kanika Mittal, currently Head of Sales, and Neha Sharma Katyal, Business Head of Twitter, will co-lead the India operations and will report to Sasamoto.
Maheshwari has been involved in a faceoff between the social media platform and the government after the UP police filed a First Information Report (FIR) against him, as well as Twitter Inc and Twitter India, in a case relating to a video of an attack on an elderly man that went viral on the platform.
Last month, the Karnataka High Court quashed the notice issued by the Uttar Pradesh Police to Maheshwari summoning him to appear in-person for questioning at a Ghaziabad police station.
Maheshwari had been summoned by the Ghaziabad Police to appear before a Loni Border Police Station on June 24 in connection with a FIR filed against nine persons, including Twitter Inc, Twitter India and Maheshwari for failing to ban the video showing the attack on an elderly person.
The UP Police has alleged that the circulation of the video had “resulted in violence” in the state, and that it had summoned Maheshwari in the case as he was the representative of Twitter in India.
During the hearing, senior counsel Prasanna Kumar, appearing on behalf of the UP Police, said that the purpose of the notice under Section 41(A) was not to arrest Maheshwari, but only to ensure his cooperation.
The Karnataka High Court had restrained the UP Police from taking any coercive action against Maheshwari on June 24, passing an interim order granting him relief in the case.
In response, the UP Police had approached the Supreme Court, challenging the interim order that was granted by the High Court.
