Youtuber Praneeth Hanumanthu
Credit: XPraneeth Hanumanthu
Hyderabad: The Nampally Court in Telangana on Thursday sent the controversial Youtuber Praneeth Hanumanthu to 14 days of judicial custody.
He has been moved to Chanchalguda jail. Hanumanthu stirred up controversy a few days ago when he made comments during an online podcast about a video featuring a father and daughter.
Tollywood actor Sai Dharma Tej initially flagged Hanumanthu's comments on X a few days ago, tagging chief minister A Revanth Reddy and other senior police officials. Taking the issue seriously, the Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB) had registered an FIR against Hanumanthu and four others who had participated in the online event.
TGCSB sleuths launched a search to nab Hanumanthu and finally caught him in Bengaluru. On Wednesday, TGCSB sleuths arrested Hanumanthu in Bengaluru and they brought him to Telangana and produced him before Nampally Court on Thursday.
Praneeth was booked under Section 67B of the IT Act (Information Technology Act), the POCSO Act (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act), Section 79 of the IT Act, and Section 294 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
During an online event under the guise of dark comedy, Hanumanthu made some controversial and vulgar comments against a father and his minor daughter. He received severe backlash from netizens who sought action against him. A few actors who had cast him in their movie ventures also apologized for doing so.
“This is beyond gruesome, disgusting and scary. Monsters like these go unnoticed on the very much utilised social platform doing child abuse in the disguise of so-called Fun & Dank. Child Safety is the need of the hour I sincerely request Hon'ble Chief Minister of Telangana @revanth_anumala & Deputy CM @Bhatti_Mallu Garu, Hon'ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh @ncbn Garu & Deputy CM @PawanKalyan Garu & @naralokesh Garu to take necessary action to curb horrific acts like this in the future,” said Tej's initial post on X.
“Thank you for bringing to our notice this issue @IamSaiDharamTej garu. Child safety is utmost priority for our Govt. Will look into this incident and take appropriate action,” said Revanth Reddy in response to Tej's post.