NOIDA: The Gautam Budh Nagar police on Saturday arrested YouTuber Gaurav Taneja for allegedly violating Section 144 of the CrPc after thousands of his fans thronged a metro station in Noida to celebrate his birthday.
According to the police, Taneja has been booked for wrongful restraint and disobedience to the order of the Indian Penal Code.
Officials of the Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) said that Taneja's manager had booked a running metro train coach to celebrate his birthday.
"We had received the booking a month ago in the name of Gaurav Taneja. We had informed him that the capacity of the metro is 200 people - 50 people for each coach. We had also informed him that Section 144 is imposed in the district. We had also told him that in case he has a big fan following, he should inform the local police station about the same so that arrangements can be made in case a large number of people gather there," Nisha Wadhawan, an NMRC official, stated.
Police said Taneja had not sought permission nor had informed the local police about the same.
An FIR was registered against the YouTuber at Sector 39 police station after his fans blocked the road in front of Sector 51 metro station on Saturday.
"Taneja had informed his 3.3 million followers on Instagram that he will be celebrating his 36th birthday in a Noida metro train and had asked his fans to meet him outside the Sector 51 metro station opposite Hira Sweets. Seeing this, thousands of his fans thronged the place, blocking traffic as well as creating chaos to meet him," said Ranvijay Singh, additional DCP Noida.
At around 2pm, Taneja reached the spot- on the road opposite Sector 51 metro station near the footover bridge, said officials.
"A large crowd had gathered at the opposite road going towards Sector 71 and as a result, traffic was blocked. Soon complaints started flowing in on social media platforms regarding the nuisance after which police took cognizance of the situation and apprehended Taneja from Sector 51 metro station around 3pm," said Singh.
He added that due to the sudden rush, passengers travelling via metro faced trouble. As tokens for the event were being distributed under the metro station, there was a massive traffic jam. However, police cleared the roads as soon as they were informed.