Representative image showing an arrest.
Credit: iStock Photo
Kanpur: A journalist and a YouTuber were on Monday arrested on charges of rioting and causing grievous hurt in an attempt to grab property, police said.
TV journalist Neeraj Awasthi, who is also a former vice-president of the Kanpur press club, and Muntazir Ansari were produced before a local court which remanded them in judicial custody for 14 days.
The FIR lodged on a complaint by Rabia Begum also mentioned “40-50 unnamed journalists”.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Ravindra Kumar told PTI that the woman accused Neeraj, Ansari, Pradeep Srivastava and the unnamed journalists of grabbing her land measuring 530 square yards, located in Saket Nagar pocket with the market value of several crores.
Neeraj is the younger brother of senior congress leader Vikas Awasthi, he said.
Other charges against the accused include rioting while carrying weapons and voluntarily causing grievous hurt to grab the property, the officer added.
Rabia, in her complaint, alleged that the arrested journalists, with help of their associates, kidnapped her son twice and took him to an unknown place in Barra where he was beaten up badly, he said.
She said that she along with her son had to leave the city and had to take shelter in Farrukhabad district for about a year.
In another incident, an FIR was lodged in Barra police station by truck owner Gaurav Singh against the press club office bearer, Divas Pandey, YouTubers Satyam Goswami, Abhishesk Sharma alias Yuva and Yogesh Dixit on charges of extortion, wrongful restraint, criminal intimidation and causing grievous hurt, the police said.
Singh alleged that he used to transport cattles due to which these accused used to harass and threaten him.
The police are trying to arrest those named in the FIR, the DCP said.