They 'wrongfully accused a woman in a case of swindling
KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 29
Police have arrested the operators of four YouTube channels on the charge of defamation, character assassination, and wrongfully accusing a woman in connection of money swindling case.
The arrested have been identified as Pradeep Bhandari, 21, operator of Dainik Khabar; Sishir Adhikari, 27, operator of Harek Palko Khabar; Pinkala Karki, 35, of Saraichuli Media; and Rodhan Tamang, 24, of Modern Online TV.
The Cyber Bureau said the arrest was made on the basis of a complaint made by a victim, whose pictures were shared by Youtubers in a swindling case without cross-checking the fact. "A case has been filed against the arrested for spreading hatred about the victim, character assassination and defamation," said Senior Superintendent of Police Nabinda Aryal of the Cyber Bureau.
All four were remanded to judicial custody as per the order of Kathmandu District Court today under the electronic transaction act.
The youtubers, whose channels are filled with news about personal events, had displayed multiple images of the victim wrongfully accusing her of swindling money from a Nepali man working abroad. A Nepali youth in Malaysia was approached by a fraudster in the guise of a girl whose image was taken from social media. A police source said the fraudster was then able to honey trap and swindle a large amount of money from the foreign worker who had sent money for help after the girl agreed to become his girlfriend.
When the man came back to the country, he realised that he was swindled.
He approached the youtubers by taking the pictures of the victim shared by the fraudster with him. The youtubers had publicised the picture of the girl, openly character assassinating the girl without bothering to check facts.
As the video went viral, the girl came to know about her situation from friends and families, who thought she was a bad character. The girl reached out to police saying that the youtubers had wrongfully used her pictures and that she was totally unaware of it. The YouTube video has been removed from the channel by all the four operators while one operator Pradeep Bhandari later posted a video stating that they mistakenly used the picture of the wrong girl.
Police have yet to arrest the fraudster who had used the pictures of the victim to swindle money from abroad.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 30 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
