FIR filed against YouTuber Manish Kashyap for reporting on E20 petrol

A first information report (FIR) was registered in Nashik on July 14 against popular YouTuber Manish Kashyap and three others over their coverage of ethanol-blended petrol (E20).

According to the FIR, the accused allegedly circulated misleading information about E20 fuel. Kashyap had uploaded videos on his YouTube channel, Manish Kashyap Son of Bihar, claiming that his Toyota Innova Hycross experienced breakdown-like problems after being filled with E20 petrol, even though the vehicle is certified to run on fuel containing up to 20 per cent ethanol, Siasat Daily reported.

In one video, Kashyap presented fuel samples that he said were collected from different parts of the vehicle’s fuel system and claimed that they indicated unusually high ethanol content and contamination. In another video, he displayed the vehicle’s fuel tank after its removal and alleged that the fuel pump and filter assembly had been adversely affected.

He also raised questions about whether expenses related to inspection, cleaning and replacement would be covered under the vehicle’s extended warranty if the issue was determined to be fuel contamination.

The Nashik Police registered the case under Sections 353 (public mischief), 356 (defamation) and 296 (obscene acts, songs or words causing annoyance in or near a public place) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with Section 67 of the Information Technology Act.

Kashyap, a native of Bihar’s West Champaran district, is a civil engineering graduate of Savitribai Phule Pune University. He is known for his social and political commentary and has more than 9.3 million subscribers on YouTube.

Meanwhile, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said there had been no reported instance of a vehicle developing problems because of E20 petrol. Challenging critics of the fuel, he asked them to identify any car that had encountered issues due to its use and maintained that no such case existed in the country.