Guwahati: A team from Assam police on Thursday visited an apartment in Balewadi area of Pune to serve a notice to stand-up comedian Samay Raina in connection with the FIR lodged against him and four others for alleged objectionable remarks on the YouTube show ‘India’s Got Latent’.
The case, registered in Guwahati on Monday (February 10), alleges that the show promoted obscenity, sparking widespread outrage following controversial remarks by YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia aka ‘Beer Biceps’.
The FIR in Assam was registered on the basis of a complaint by one Alok Boruah from Guwahati. Boruah has complained that the remarks made in the show were a “serious harm to public decency”.
Ranveer Allahbadia’s comments about parents and sex on the show led to multiple complaints, resulting in legal action against him, Raina, and other participants, including Ashish Chanchlani, Jaspreet Singh, and Apoorva Makhija.
Along with Raina, police had booked podcaster Allahbadia, content creators Ashish Chanchlani, Jaspreet Singh and Apoorva Mukhija, who were also part of the show.
Assam police’s cyber division has been stationed in Mumbai, where they have already served notices to Allahbadia and Chanchlani. They are now in Pune to issue a summons to Samay Raina, who has a residence in Balewadi.
The case was filed with the Guwahati Crime Branch under sections of the IT Act and Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 as well as sections of the BNS pertaining to insulting a woman’s modesty and “obscene acts”.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had taken to social media to announce that the FIR had been filed.
A team of the crime branch from Assam visited Mumbai to serve notices to some of the accused in the case, asking them to appear before the police in Guwahati for investigation.
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Raina is currently reported to be in a foreign country. Police officers visited the apartment and left as Raina was not present at the spot.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Cyber, the state’s cyber and information security division, is also investigating the matter alongside Mumbai police.
