Tamil Nadu police get 14 days remand of Manish Kashyap

Tamil Nadu police on Tuesday got the 14 days remand of Youtuber and mastermind Manish Kashyap, who had created panic by spreading fake videos on social media about Bihari migrants being allegedly attacked in Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu police on Tuesday got the 14 days remand of Youtuber and mastermind Manish Kashyap, who had created panic by spreading fake videos on social media about Bihari migrants being allegedly attacked in Tamil Nadu.

Mr. Kashyap was arrested following his surrender at Jagdishpur police station in West Champaran on March 18 after which the Economic Offence Unit (EOU) of Bihar got his remand for interrogation. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu was also camping in Patna to get his remand from the local court. Tamil Nadu police will produce Kashyap in Madurai court on March 31. 

While speaking to The Hindu, EOU additional director general (ADG) Nayyar Hasnain Khan said, “Tamil Nadu police has got Manish Kashyap remand for 14 days. They will now take him to their state for further interrogation. Our investigation would be going on and if we need to interrogate him further, we will go ahead with the legal proceedings. Follow-up action and details would be collected on the basis of things he has said during the remand of EOU.”

After an investigation by EOU, It has come to the fore that most of the videos circulated on social media were fabricated and fake. In fact, one of the videos in which Bihari migrants were shown with injury on the forehead was shot in the Bengali Colony of Jakkanpur locality in Patna. The shooting of the video took place on March 6 and was posted on social media on March 8. 

Asked about revealing any shocking facts at the time of the interrogation and the motive behind spreading fake videos, a senior official of EOU requesting anonymity said, “Lot of things he said during the interrogation and revealed his hideouts as well when he was absconding. We also got the information about this money details and further investigation is on. We are also investigating the details about his sympathizers and their role.”

The official further said, “He has a strong political ambition and he accepted it during the interrogation. For the first time he tried to get a ticket from Shiv Sena but the party denied him a ticket because there were communal cases against him after that he contested as an independent candidate in the 2020 assembly poll. This man was desperate to become a politician and he can go to any extent for that. The purpose behind spreading fake videos was to create sensation and to become a hero. He wanted to portray himself as the messiah of poor people. He wanted to defame the government and the system. He also wanted to become the talk of the town by spreading fake videos on social media. He basically wanted to create a situation of discord.”

Earlier, the Economic Offence Unit (EOU) froze a total of ₹42.11 lakhs rupees of his bank accounts. According to EOU, he has ₹3,37496 in his SBI account, ₹51, 069 in his IDFC Bank account, ₹3,37463 in his HDFC bank account, and ₹34,85,909 in his HDFC bank account of Sachtak Foundation.