Three youths were arrested for allegedly spreading fake news on YouTube channels about an attack on ‘Jagannath Rath Yatra’.
The social media monitoring cell of the cyber crime branch, while keeping a watch on various platforms on July 2, came across YouTube channels, viz, JD News, Education Trend, Gujarati Media News, Gujarat ek Sagar and Yuvraj Rabari Fan Club, which were allegedly airing fake news about attack on Rath Yatra. There was an attempt to disturb peace and social harmony through the YouTube channels, the police said.
The accused have been identified as Suresh Parmar (26), Suresh Luhar (20) and Jigar Dhomeliya (20). All the accused have been booked under various sections of IPC 505 (1), 505 (2) Saturday.
The police stated that the three accused came from financially weaker backgrounds and used the YouTube channels to earn through the advertisements. Behrampura resident Parmar runs a YouTube channel named Gujarat Media News and earns Rs 1 lakh through it. The second Luhar is a resident of Mangrol village in Banaskantha district and used to run ‘Gujarat ek Sagar’ channel. The accused used to earn Rs 60,000 annually through the channel. Bhavnagar resident Dhomeliya runs ‘JD News’, earning Rs 1.5 lakh per annum.