Kanpur: YouTuber Journalist, Brother-in-law Held for 'Extortion'

Kanpur: A YouTuber-journalist and his brother-in-law were arrested here on Monday on charges of extortion, police officials said.

The arrested YouTuber has been identified as Kamlesh alias Fighter, and his brother-in-law Suraj Kumar alias Majnu, they said.

Kamlesh had allegedly formed a syndicate comprising over a dozen members for organised crime, mainly extortion, a senior officer said.

According to Kanpur Police, the matter stemmed from its ongoing probe against alleged extortionists including YouTubers and journalists in the city after the arrest of Avneesh Dixit, a TV journalist, who was sent to jail for attempting to grab the nazul land having market value of over Rs 1,000 crore in July.

Since then, about 15 FIRs have been lodged against over six dozen journalists and YouTubers so far, the police added.

"As many as five FIRs have been lodged at various police stations so far against the arrested YouTuber within a fortnight," Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Harish Chander said.

With the arrest of YouTuber Kamlesh, the number of arrested journalists and YouTubers has crossed six, he added.

"The first FIR against Kamlesh and his aides was lodged with the Colonelganj police station on August 20 followed by four more FIRs," the additional CP told PTI.

The police had launched a search for Kamlesh and his associates and his arrest was made from Banda district. They also arrested Kamlesh's brother-in- law Majnu, who had provided him shelter during his absconding period, he added. 

With PTI Inputs