Mumbai: Instagram influencer Iffy Khan fakes own death to go viral, lands in jail

Last week, a social media influencer was imprisoned for faking his own death. Irfan Khan, a 28-year-old Instagram and YouTube influencer known online as Iffy Khan, created a video in which he showed himself committing suicide after being rejected by a girl. The horrific footage was altered to give the impression that Khan was killed by a train. He shared it on his Instagram account, which has over 44,000 followers.

Khan was charged with section 336 of the Indian Penal Code for endangering the lives of people and himself, as well as section 188 for disobedience of an order. He was additionally charged with publishing or spreading any statement containing a rumour or disturbing news with the aim to instigate to commit an offence under section 505 (1), as well as annoyance and fraud under the Indian Railways Act.

According to Khan, his video received more than 300,000 views after it was uploaded by a Twitter user named Binu Varghese. This rapidly drew the attention of the general population and the cops. 

The video was 1st instalment of a two-part series

Khan said that he made the video for entertainment purposes but people misinterpreted it and felt he was pushing people to commit suicide. He also stated that this was simply the first instalment of a video series that he was working on. In the second part of the video, he would wake up from his dream and see his parents' faces. The message was meant to be motivational and warn people about suicide.

Khan's childhood friend Shubham Joshi, who routinely collaborates with him, told VICE World News that he wanted to go viral, but was out of content. He wanted to make a video to raise awareness about suicide acts, but the one he made was incorrect. Khan chose to delete his video after it sparked outrage and led several of his relatives to believe he was dead.

Khan has apologised to the public

Khan is awaiting the outcome of his case in court and has also apologised to the public. Experts, however, are concerned that his video may have serious ramifications. 

Khan isn't the first one who has shot such acts to go viral. Another influencer, Armaan Shaikh, faked his own death last month by trying to shoot himself with a gun that was actually a lighter.

Image- @iffy_khan06/Instagram

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