Nagpur:
A case has been registered against four influencers, including Manish Kashyap, for allegedly conspiring to defame Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.
The Nagpur Cyber Police registered the FIR against them for spreading misleading information regarding the use of ethanol fuel (E20) and for tarnishing Gadkari’s image by dragging his name into the matter “without any concrete basis”.
Apart from Kashyap, who is a well-known YouTuber from Bihar, the others named in the FIR are Desi BoysNCR, Harshit Rathi and Anklesh Invate.
According to the police, these four influencers circulated controversial videos on popular social media platforms like YouTube and Instagram, claiming that large-scale fraud and bogus transactions were taking place involving ethanol usage.
Through these videos, they attempted to suggest that the law was being violated under the guise of the ethanol policy.
It is alleged that they deliberately misrepresented Gadkari’s ethanol-related policies in their videos.
Terming this a calculated smear campaign, Shishir Tripathi, the head of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s social media cell in Nagpur, lodged a formal complaint with the Nagpur Cyber Police.
The complaint states that, to lend an air of authenticity to the videos, the influencers resorted to using fake or misleading interviews with ordinary citizens, with the primary objective of damaging Gadkari’s political and social reputation. Additionally, they have been accused of disrupting social harmony by spreading such misleading information.
The complaint explicitly stated that these influencers misused a senior Union Minister’s name solely to garner views and followers.
An official said the Cyber Cell’s investigation revealed that the information disseminated by the social media influencers was completely baseless, the videos sensationalised and endorsed illegal acts, and Gadkari had no connection whatsoever to the alleged fraud cases or incidents depicted in the videos, but his name was used.
The police are now conducting a technical investigation into the source of these videos and any potential conspiracy behind them.
(With inputs from Sanjay Tiwari)
