New Delhi: Weeks after YouTuber Gaurav Wasan put the owner of south Delhi eatery Baba Ka Dhaba into limelight with a call for financial assistance, its 80-year-old proprietor Kanta Prasad has filed a complaint against the blogger for allegedly misappropriating funds raised to help him.
In his complaint filed Saturday, Prasad alleged that though he has a bank account, Wasan did not share that while asking for help, and instead gave the account and contact details of his own and that of his family members.
While the complaint did not mention the amount swindled, Prasad told ThePrint that he believes Wasan received around Rs 5 lakh but transferred only around Rs 2.30 lakh.
Prasad also accused Wasan of cheating, mischief, criminal conspiracy, among other charges, under the Indian Penal Code.
After receiving lots of messages from donors on social media or you can say “on public demand ” we have filed the complaint to know the fact regarding collection of donations ?@ThePlacardGuy @tushant_adlakha @lakshayhere @SamratBhai31 @ElvishYadav pic.twitter.com/aVc2fkNH1T
— Baba Ka Dhaba (@Babaisdigital) October 31, 2020
Wasan denied all the charges, saying he has transferred over Rs 3 lakh to Prasad’s accounts.
The move comes over three weeks after Baba Ka Dhaba gained popularity when Wasan uploaded a video of Prasad and his wife Badami Devi on 7 October, showing that the couple had no money amid the pandemic. The Malviya Nagar eatery’s business was hit hard even after the Covid lockdown was lifted as it failed to draw customers.
Looking for donations for the couple, Wasan posted the video on YouTube and Instagram, which was seen by over 2 crore people and was shared by celebrities like Swara Bhasker, Sonam Kapoor and Raveena Tandon. The eatery saw a surge later, with people coming in to buy food and donating money.
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What Prasad claims
Speaking to ThePrint, Kanta Prasad said he filed the complaint against Wasan because the latter kept the donations with himself and only gave one cheque for around Rs 2.30 lakh, even though he had received more money since then.
“Why did he give his own bank account number when I have a bank account? He did not even ask me once if I have a bank account,” said Prasad.
In his legal battle, Prasad is taking the assistance of one Tushant Adlakha, a 21-year-old student at International School of Media and Entertainment Studies in Noida. Adlakha has been helping out the elderly couple at the eatery since the video went viral.
Adlakha told ThePrint that he decided to file a complaint with the help of a lawyer after seeing several posts on social media about the donations. He said it seemed Wasan had received more than the Rs 2.30 lakh that he had given to Prasad.
According to a report in The Indian Express , some YouTubers have alleged that Wasan received around Rs 20 lakh as donations.
While the police has received the complaint, an FIR is yet to be registered. “We will inquire further into the matter and will then see whether to file an FIR or not,” said a police officer, who did not wish to be identified.
‘Disheartening to see’
As some YouTubers alleged that Wasan was swindling the money raised for Baba Ka Dhaba and was running a “scam”, the latter posted a video on both YouTube and Instagram showing his bank statements three days before the complaint was filed. He detailed that he has made three separate transfers amounting to around Rs 3.5 lakh.
Speaking to ThePrint, Wasan said this was an attempt to defame him. “This is not the first time I have made a video and tried getting help for other street vendors. Ask any street vendor if I have ever deceived them,” he said.
Wasan added that it was very disheartening that the very person he helped was accusing him of cheating. “Do you think I will help anyone (else) now?”
He also said he was prepared to show his bank details to the authorities if required. “Baba is becoming so greedy now that he is still giving his bank account details to people,” he added.
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