Two held, fresh FIR for ‘fake’ videos of attack on Bihar migrants in TN

The two arrested Friday were identified as Rakesh Ranjan Kumar and Rakesh Tiwari, according to an EOU statement.

Days after the arrest of a man for allegedly sharing “fake” videos of attacks on migrants from Bihar in Tamil Nadu on social media, the Economic Offence Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police on Friday registered a fresh FIR against four persons as part of its probe into the case and made two more arrests.

The team from Bihar, which had gone to Tamil Nadu to probe alleged attacks on migrants, addresses press upon return in Patna on Friday. (HT photo)

The two arrested Friday were identified as Rakesh Ranjan Kumar and Rakesh Tiwari, according to an EOU statement.

The new FIR names YouTuber Manish Kashyap, Yuvraj Singh Rajput and two others “on the charges of indulging in spreading fake videos of migrants being killed and beaten up in Tamil Nadu on social media”, a senior officer said.

On March 6, the EOU had registered its first FIR in the case and booked four persons — Aman Kumar, Rakesh Tiwary, Yuvraj Singh Rajput and Manish Kashyap.

Aman Kumar was later arrested from Jamui.

On Friday, Rakesh Ranjan Kumar was arrested from Gopalganj in connection with a video tweeted by Manish Kashyap, who runs a YouTube channel called BNR News Honey. It showed two masked people attacking some people.

“We have requested the court for issue of warrant against Manish Kashyap and Yuvraj Singh Rajput, as they have not appeared before the police. Manish Kashyap has criminal antecedents and has seven cases pending against him. He was also involved in attacking the police. He has also spent time in jail for beating shopkeepers in Patna,” said an EOU official, adding that Yuvraj has already been absconding for the last three months in a case of firing in Bhojpur.

“Despite repeated summons by investigators, both Manish Kashyap and Yuvraj Singh did not turn up before the EOU sleuths. They are absconding. Now the EOU has initiated a process to arrest them,” additional director general of police JS Gangwar told reporters in Patna on Friday.

According to police, Rajput faces 13 cases in Tamil Nadu for posting fake videos.

In Gopalganj, police also detained one Umesh Mahto for interrogation as soon as he returned to his native place from Karnataka for forwarding a video regarding the death of a person, identified as Ravindra Mahto, in Tiruppur district of Tamil Nadu.

“When Gopalganj police verified the facts, Tamil Nadu police informed them there was no such incident. The cellphone location of both Umesh and Ravindra showed they were in Bengaluru. The police there said there was one death on railway tracks and a case had been lodged in that connection. The WhatsApp picture corroborated that the victim was Ravindra Mahto,” said an EOU official.

Over 30 video clips as suspicious and are being probed, police said.