The Bihar Police on Monday, March 6, made their first arrest in a case over fake videos uploaded to social media falsely claiming to show attacks on migrant workers in Tamil Nadu, sparking fear. The arrest was made in the Jamui district of Bihar, based on a first information report (FIR) against four YouTubers. An FIR was registered in the Economic Offence Unit (EOU) in Patna after Bihar Police identified 30 such fake videos uploaded on social media. One of the accused, Aman Kumar. was arrested in Jamui on Monday.
Besides Aman, the other three accused were identified as Manish Kashyap, Rakesh Tiwari, and Yuvraj Singh. "An EOU team arrested one of the YouTubers Aman Kumar from Jamui district on Monday. He is accused of uploading old videos on social media and creating rumours. That video was completely fake. He was trying to create tension between people of Bihar and Tamil Nadu through such a video," Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Law and Order GS Gangwar said.
Meanwhile, Bihar Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar wrote a letter to his Tamil Nadu counterpart RN Ravi seeking an investigation into alleged violence on Bihari workers in the state. The Tamil Nadu police have already denied any such incidents of violence in the state. The Tamil Nadu DGP earlier claimed that the videos uploaded on social media were fake and the unrelated incidents happened a few weeks ago in Tiruppur and Coimbatore districts.
Meanwhile, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan met Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi on Monday and urged him to investigate the matter. He has also handed over a memorandum to the Governor. "India is a country where people speak a number of languages and creating differences on the basis of languages is not the right thing. However, some people are creating differences in Tamil Nadu. It needs to be investigated. If it is wrong, investigators should find out who is behind such a conspiracy," Paswan said.
"We have seen a number of videos where people are assaulting Bihari labourers but neither I nor my party is confirming their truth. If there is any truth in the viral video, it is a matter of concern for everyone. I have also written a letter to the Union Home Ministry to investigate this matter too," Paswan said.