India’s Got Latent row: Cyber cell summons six | Mumbai news

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra cyber cell has summoned content creators and influencers Tanmay Bhat, Raki Sawant, Urfi Javed, Siddhant Chaturvedi and Deepak Kalal in connection with the probe into the allegedly objectionable remarks made by YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia in an episode of ‘India’s Got Latent’.

“We have summoned various participants who acted as judges, artists and hosts of all episodes one to six of the show,” said a cyber cell officer.

The cyber cell had, on Tuesday, registered a First Information Report (FIR) against 30 people including Allahbadia associated with the YouTube show. The accused were booked under section 67 (transmission of obscene material in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act and sections 79 (insult a woman’s modesty), 196 (promoting enmity between different groups), 296 (obscene acts and songs in public places), 299 (obscene acts and songs in public places) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, based on a complaint by a 38-year-old Santacruz resident and subscriber of the show.

On Wednesday, Apoorva Mukhija, who is popular as ‘The Rebel Kid’ and was a judge on the show, appeared before the Khar police, which is conducting a separate probe.

“We recorded Makhija’s statement in the presence of her lawyer,” said an officer from Khar police station. The Khar police has recorded statements of seven persons related to the case, but has not registered an FIR yet, he added.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Samay Raina, a standup comedian associated with the show, removed all related videos from his YouTube channel. In his first public comments since the row over Allahbadia’s comments erupted, he said in a post on social media, “Everything that is happening has been too much for me to handle. I have removed all India’s Got Latent videos from my channel. My only objective was to make people laugh and have a good time. I will fully cooperate with all agencies to ensure their inquiries are concluded fairly.”