A team of the Kolkata Police on Tuesday arrested YouTuber Roddur Roy from Goa for allegedly making derogatory remarks about West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, The Indian Express reported.
During a Facebook live session, Roy used expletives against Banerjee, her nephew MP Abhishek Banerjee as well as towards other Trinamool Congress leaders such as Firhad Hakim and Madan Mitra, PTI reported.
He accused the ruling party of mismanagement after singer Krishnakumar Kunnath, popularly known as KK, died on May 31 shortly after performing at a concert in Kolkata’s Nazrul Mancha auditorium.
KK had collapsed at the hotel where he was staying after the performance. Doctors at the Calcutta Medical Research Institute said that the 53-year-old had died by the time he was brought to the hospital.
Roy’s Facebook live video has been removed from the social media platform by the authorities, according to PTI.
He will be brought to Kolkata on transit remand, a senior police official told the news agency. A transit remand once accepted by the court allows the police to transfer an accused from one state to another.
The complaint against the YouTuber was filed by Trinamool Congress spokesperson Riju Dutta on May 4 at the Chitpur police station, PTI reported.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Anupam Hazra asked why the police did not arrest Roy when he allegedly defamed Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, PTI reported.
“Now that the chief minister and Abhishek Banerjee were abused, the police swung into action,” he said. “Why should it be so?”
Roy had replaced the lyrics in Tagore’s songs with expletives, due to which he shot to fame two years ago, India Today reported.
The YouTuber had also mocked Bangla Academy for conferring the West Bengal chief minister with a literary award in 2020, The Indian Express reported.
Banerjee had received the award for her book, Kabita Bitan, released at the International Kolkata Book Fair. It is a collection of over 900 poems.
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