YouTube user who published a bogus video of a migrant worker assault in Tamil Nadu gives up

On Saturday, Manish Kashyap, a YouTuber sought for allegedly distributing a bogus film depicting an assault on migrant laborers in Tamil Nadu, turned himself in to the police in West Champaran, Bihar, according to authorities.

The Economic Offence Unit (EOU) of the Bihar Police has filed three cases against Kashyap (32), who runs the "Sach Tak News" channel on the video-sharing website YouTube, in connection with the dissemination of a fictitious video depicting attacks on migrant workers in the southern state. Khan is the additional director general of the EOU.

Khan said that Kashyap "would be probed by both Bihar and Tamil Nadu police," adding that Kashyap will appear before the Patna special vigilance court on Sunday.

The ADG said that a Tamil Nadu Police team had arrived in Patna to question Kashyap, who had been taken to the EOU police station from Bettiah on transit remand.

MK Stalin, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, had earlier denied claims of violence against migrant laborers and issued a warning about prompt action being taken against anyone propagating rumors. He also promised Nitish Kumar, his colleague from Bihar, that no damage will come to the workforce.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders stalled the proceedings earlier this month, saying that Bihari workers were being harassed for speaking Hindi in Tamil Nadu. The controversy shocked the Bihar parliament. Nevertheless, the accusations were denied by a high-level committee of Bihar authorities who looked into the case.

On Saturday morning, Kashyap, who also uses the alias Tripurai Kumar Tiwari, turned himself in at the Jagdishpur police outpost in Bettiah. At the same time, a team led by deputy inspector general (DIG) Jayant Kant was completing the process of attaching Kashyap's home in the Majhaulia neighborhood of the city.

On his Twitter and Facebook profiles, Kashyap posted a bogus video purporting to show migrant laborers being attacked in Tamil Nadu. Nevertheless, the police then discovered that the primary suspect, Rakesh Ranjan Kumar Singh, who was detained on March 8 from his hamlet in the Gopalganj district, was the one who really took the video. According to a senior police official, during his questioning, Singh admitted to the police that he produced the film at Kashyap's direction and under his assurance that he would get big compensation for the bogus video.

In connection with bogus films showing migrants being assaulted in Tamil Nadu, the EOU of the Bihar Police earlier filed three FIRs under pertinent sections of the Indian Criminal Code (IPC) and IT Act, naming Kashyap in each one.

Kashyap, a native of Dumri Mahnawa village in West Champaran district, campaigned unsuccessfully for the Chanpatia seat in the 2020 Bihar legislative elections as an independent.