A team of Uttar Pradesh police officers came to Chennai to arrest a man who has been living in Chennai for 35 years. Manmohan Mishra (62) has been accused of making alleged derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his YouTube channel.
Manmohan Mishra, who goes by the name Munmohan Mishta on his channel, is a native of Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh. Police officials said that a few residents of UP took offence to his videos in which he criticised PM Modi and filed a complaint at the Kotwali police station, reported The New Indian Express.
Mishra makes videos on political affairs in Hindi. He has criticised the PM and the BJP-led government over its policies and handling of the second wave of Covid-19 in many of his videos. He has content on conspiracy theories about Narendra Modi, the USA, and India's relations with China and Pakistan as well. He has called the Prime Minister a mafia and accused him of destabilising the country.
The Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in Madhavaram, Arul Santhosa Muthu told The News Minute that the police officers from Uttar Pradesh arrived in Chennai two days ago. They informed Tamil Nadu police before making the arrest. Mishra was produced in front of the Madhavaram Magisterial Court by the Uttar Pradesh police where they were granted transit remand.
The charges against Mishra are not yet known.
The Uttar Pradesh police claim that his videos have become very popular in Uttar Pradesh. However, Mishra has about 600 subscribers on YouTube. His recent videos have 1-2 views. And none of his videos have more than 200 views, reported The News Minute.
In a video dated August 13, Mishra referred to the Godhra incident during the 2002 Gujarat riots and alleged that Narendra Modi "used the deaths of those killed in that violence to ask for votes and became chief minister of the state again."
Manmohan Mishra has been arrested on the basis of a six-month-old video in which he called for PM Modi to resign. He had also participated in a protest at Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh and allegedly circulated videos against PM Modi, reported The Hindu.