YouTuber Paras Singh in Arunachal police custody for a day

Itanagar: The Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court here on Friday sent Punjab-based YouTuber Paras Singh to one-day police custody to investigate the matter of racial remarks made against senior Congress MLA Ninong Ering and the people of Arunachal Pradesh.

Paras, the now infamous YouTuber was brought to Itanagar from Ludhiana in Punjab by a Special Investigation Team of the Arunachal Pradesh Police late Thursday night.

The 3-member SIT team led by inspector Techi Vijay consisted of constables G L Ray and Aman Kumar Meena.

“Paras was produced before the CJM court through video conferencing on Friday after which the police took him into custody for further interrogation. He will be produced before the court again on Saturday,” sources in the police informed EastMojo.

Special Investigation Team (SIT) superintendent of police Rohit Rajbir Singh said Paras, has during interrogation revealed that he has different accounts in YouTube, both of which were basically created to “generate quick money”.

“The account with the channel name ‘Paras Official’ with 4.68 lakh subscribers is used for showing tips, tricks, and informing his subscribers about the new skins of games like Call of Duty (COD) mobile and PUBG un-boxing videos while the other titled ‘Paras Gamers’ with 3.94 lakh subscribers are used to live stream PUBG in YouTube,” SP Singh said.

Both the accounts of the social media influencer are monetized by YouTube and he earns anywhere between Rs 20000-25000 in a month.

“The YouTuber during the questioning also disclosed that the controversial video, against which a case has now been registered, was made by him to gain widespread attention and views so that his monetary income could be maximized,” Singh said.

Also read: Varun Dhawan slams Youtuber for racial slur on Arunachal MLA

He was enraged after reading the letter sent by MLA Ering seeking a ban on PUBG, as banning the online game would have meant a loss in income for him, the SP said.

Ering had recently written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi wherein he had appealed to the latter to ban the re-launch of PUBG Mobile India’s new avatar Battlegrounds Mobile India.

Ering, also a former Lok Sabha member, had reasoned that the game was aimed at deceiving the government and citizens and should be banned in the country.

Also during the interrogation, it was learnt that Pasar (22) has studied till Class X lives with his mother in Janakpuri, a neighbourhood in Ludhiana, Punjab.

The SIT has seized one laptop, one tablet and three mobiles from the YouTuber’s possession for further investigation, SP Singh said.

A case under u/s 124A/ 153A/ 505(2) IPC has been registered against Paras by the state’s cybercrime team while multiple FIRs have also been lodged across Arunachal against the YouTuber.

The Arunachal Indigenous Tribal Forum (AITF), a conglomeration of various community-based organisations in the state has lauded the state’s political leaders and police for taking prompt action in the entire case.

It appreciated the efforts of Chief Minister Pema Khandu, Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein for taking suo-moto cognisance of the case at the state level and Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Kiren Rijiju and Special Commissioner of Delhi police Robin Hibu at the national front.

The AITF has also lauded the efforts of the state police led by DGP R P Upadhyay, IGP Chukhu Apa and the SIT team led by SP Singh for apprehending Paras.

Their acumen of policing deserves appreciation and kudos from all of us, the AITF said while seeking stringent punishment against the content creator.