Bihar man detained over threat video against Deepak Kumar

Dehradun: Police in Kotdwar in Pauri Garhwal district on Monday registered an FIR against a man for allegedly uploading a video on social media in which he purportedly threatened to kill Deepak Kumar and offer a reward of Rs 2 lakh to anyone who would kill him. The man was tracked and was detained in Bihar's Motihari.It was learnt that the accused, Utkarsh Singh, admitted that he had uploaded the video to increase his social media followers as the name Deepak Kumar was trending for the past few days, said SSP Sarvesh Panwar.Deepak Kumar had recently introduced himself as ‘Mohammed Deepak' in a widely shared video showing him confronting Bajrang Dal members harassing an elderly Muslim shopkeeper in Kotdwar for using ‘Baba' in his shop's name.SSP Panwar said the action was taken after Kumar lodged a complaint on the same at Kotdwar police station on Sunday after coming across the video on social media. "Acting on the complaint, a case was registered under relevant BNS sections. The accused was then traced in Bihar after which police in that state were contacted for seeking assistance in the case. Bihar police then tracked his ID and detained him in Motihari district. He claimed to have no criminal intent behind his act. We will take further action as the probe proceeds," said Panwar. On Sunday, Rajya Sabha member from Kerala, John Brittas of CPI(M) met Kumar, his family and friend Vijay Rawat, who too had confronted the Bajrang Dal members to protect the elderly Muslim shopkeeper in the Jan 26 incident in Kotdwar. He was also present to confront over 100 members of the right-wing organisation who had gathered outside Kumar's gymnasium on Jan 31 in presence of police. Both Kumar and Rawat were later named in an FIR registered by police on a complaint by Bajrang Dal members accusing them of physical assault and criminal intimidation in the incident. Meeting Kumar and Rawat, Brittas on his X account posted, "I came here to meet my younger brothers to express solidarity on behalf of people of Kerala who always uphold communal harmony and brotherhood. I also wanted to appreciate them for their courage to stand up to 150 goondas while very well knowing that they would be harassed. Deepak Kumar, who transformed into ‘Muhammad' Deepak, is not merely an individual... he is the diamond-bright light of hope." During his visit, Brittas also took yearly membership at Kumar's gym while claiming that its total membership has come down from ‘150 to around 6-7 following the episode on Jan 31.' "I also visited Muhammad Baba's (Vakeel Ahmed) textile shop and made some purchases. Furthermore, I registered a strong protest at Kotdwar Police Station, which has filed a case against Deepak while shielding the rioters," stated Brittas. TOI contacted Kumar on the development but failed to connect. However, his friend Rawat confirmed the adverse development on Kumar's gym membership. "The number of members has definitely gone down. We think many of them are scared to visit the gym after the whole episode. They don't want to land in any trouble for obvious reasons. Kumar has to pay a monthly rent of Rs 40,000 for the building space on which he runs his gymnasium. But we are optimistic that the situation will soon become normal. We would continue to stand for peace and communal harmony," said Rawat.