Mumbai: A year after being summoned by the Maharashtra Cyber for questioning over his controversial YouTube show India’s Got Latent, comedian Samay Raina reunited with the state agency on 27 August. This time, however, Raina was a guest at a cyber-awareness campaign, where he was felicitated by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
The agency launched a cyber-awareness film on digital arrest scams and the “1930 Maharashtra Cyber Anthem” at Mumbai’s Sahyadri Guest House.
The ceremony was also attended by actors Pankaj Tripathi, Ashish Vidyarthi, Sharad Kelkar, Sonali Bendre, Javed Jaffrey and Mangesh Desai, singer Sunidhi Chauhan and Raina, all of whom contributed to the campaign and were felicitated by the CM, reported ANI.
The news agency referred to the 42-minute film as “Digital Arrest”, while Fadnavis, in a post on X, described it as “Operation 1930”. The Cyber department’s campaign will also use shorter videos and reels featuring the celebrities to spread cyber-safety messages across social media.
“Creating awareness is one of the most effective ways to prevent cyber fraud,” Fadnavis posted, stressing that “there is no such thing as a ‘Digital Arrest’.”
He urged people to immediately contact 1930, the national cyber-fraud helpline, if they fall victim to online fraud, adding that the first few hours are crucial for blocking transactions and recovering money.
The CM also warned about emerging threats such as AI-enabled voice cloning, deepfakes and manipulated audio and video. Maharashtra Cyber chief Yashasvi Yadav, meanwhile, presented upcoming initiatives including the Maharashtra Cyber Safe app and the “Asha Call Bot.”
Raina, on the other hand, joked about his previous encounters with the agency.
“Mera aur Maharashtra Cyber ka rishta bahut purana hai (My relationship with Maharashtra Cyber goes back a long way),” he said in a video from the event on Instagram.
“1930 is really a great number. I have actually saved it because I often get calls from there,” he added.
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Raina then joked about how active the agency was and its ability to trace people wherever they might be, before quipping that this was the first time Maharashtra Cyber officials had come to a comedian’s house and taken him along to felicitate him.
The remarks were a reference to the India’s Got Latent controversy in February 2025.
The Maharashtra Cyber had registered a case over alleged obscene content on Raina’s show after podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia’s remarks triggered widespread criticism.
Raina, who was abroad at the time, was issued multiple summons. His request to initially record his statement through videoconferencing was rejected, and he eventually appeared before Maharashtra Cyber in Mumbai in March 2025 to record his statement.
Seventeen months later, his return was under markedly different circumstances — this time as part of the state’s effort to get people to remember one number: 1930.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)