Allahbadia fails to appear before Mumbai Police; asked to be present on Friday

Social media influencer Ranveer Allahbadia was asked to present himself at Mumbai's Khar police station on Friday after he failed to appear in connection with a probe into his controversial comments on a YouTube show, an official said.

The city police as well as Maharashtra cyber department have also asked comedian Samay Raina, who was part of the controversial reality show India's Got Latent, to appear before them in the next five days.

Allahbadia, who was expected to visit Khar police station on Thursday, did not turn up, and told police that he was afraid of the media, an official said. But it was made clear to him that he cannot evade questioning and must come in on Friday, the official added.

The cyber cell and Mumbai Police are conducting separate investigations into Allahbadia's alleged obscene and vulgar remarks that have caused much outrage across the country.

Raina is currently in the US and has asked for time to appear before the authorities, an official said. Mumbai Police has asked Raina to record his statement before 17 February, while the state cyber department has summoned him on 18 February, he added.

An Assam Police team, which is in Mumbai in connection with a case registered by them against Allahbadia and four others in Guwahati, on Thursday met the Maharashtra cyber cell officials.

Mumbai Police (Khar police station) has so far recorded the statements of seven persons, including social media influencer Apoorva Makhija, one of the participants in the YouTube show, on a complaint filed by a BJP functionary. But they have not registered any FIR yet.

The state cyber department has summoned more than 40 persons, including Allahbadia and Raina, asking them to join the probe into an FIR it has registered over Allahbadia's remarks. On Tuesday, it also issued notices to 'guests' and 'judges' who had participated in past episodes of India's Got Latent.

Allahbadia, who has more than 16 million followers across social media platforms, landed in a soup after a video of his controversial comments on parents and sex started making the rounds on social media. He later issued a video apology, calling his comment a "lapse in judgement", but the issue has refused to die down.

The issue was also raised in Parliament by Shiv Sena MP Naresh Mhaske, who called for a law to regulate social media content.