A Delhi-based software engineer on Wednesday, 9 May, filed a police complaint against YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, alleging that the latter, in one of his videos, accused him of being the second-in-command of the BJP IT Cell, spreading false news, and offering a bribe of Rs 50 lakh to a former cell member.
Engineer Vikas Pandey has also named former BJP IT cell member, Mahavir, who made some startling allegations in his interview to Rathee, and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for having shared the video on micro-blogging site Twitter.
Mahavir, in his conversation with Rathee, expounded the functioning of the BJP IT cell and added that the "super 150 social media influencers" invited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015 took the Twitter battle to anyone going against the views of the ruling party.
Calling the complaint “comical”, Rathee told The Quint that if Pandey named Kejriwal for sharing the video, he should have named 10,000 other people who shared the video on Twitter.
"Pandey is claiming that I made false allegations, but if you see the video, you will realise that I have just quoted Mahavir and his phone conversation with Abhishek Mishra," Rathee said, adding that he wasn't the first person to have revealed this phone recording.
Avi Dandiya, who also makes videos, had already discussed this recording in one of his videos.Dhruv Rathee
The complaint was filed on the basis of this video in which Rathee played the phone recording between Mahavir and Abhishek Mishra.
Pandey, in his complaint, also asserted that he had never offered "a bribe of Rs 50 Lakh", as claimed in an audio, purportedly a phone conversation between Mahavir and Abhishek Misra, another YouTuber, that Rathee played in the video. Pandey is also the founder and admin of "I support Narendra Modi", a Facebook page with over 15 million followers.
On the accusation of "spreading false news", Rathee said that he stood by his statement and can show numerous instances in which "I Support Narendra Modi" page shared false information.
Rathee shared a copy of the complaint on Twitter and said that he expected the same. "This is the strategy of BJP to silence people who speak against them. The people know the truth," he further wrote.
Pandey also mentioned in his complaint that he was going to initiate civil and criminal defamation cases against the Rathee, Mahavir and Kejriwal separately for "causing grave insult and injury to my reputation".
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)