Popular Kannada YouTuber Sameer MD has been booked on the charge of spreading false information through a video about the case where a former sanitation worker has claimed to have secretly buried victims of sexual assault victims at Dharmasthala in Karnataka under duress.
Titled “Who Are Serial K!llrs of Dharmasthala?”, the video of 23 minutes and 52 seconds has received 3.1 million views since it was uploaded on YouTube on Saturday.
According to the Dakshina Kannada police, the video was generated using artificial intelligence and included fabricated details about the burial case. The video allegedly went beyond information provided in the official complaint of the whistleblower and during the court proceedings on Friday where he recorded his statement.
The police said that the video not only spread misinformation but also revealed additional content about the former sanitation worker’s complainant.
A case was registered against Sameer MD at the Dharmasthala police station under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 192,240,353(1)(b) on charges of wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause a riot and giving false information about an offence, among others.
Back in April, a Bengaluru court served a notice on a Rs 10-crore defamation suit over his video regarding the unsolved murder of a college student that took place 14 years ago.
The lawsuit was filed by representatives of Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala, D Harshendra Kumar, and Nischal D, who had alleged that Sameer had targeted the religious institution through his defamatory content.
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The secret burials in the forests surrounding the temple town of Dharmasthala have come to the fore following a complaint by the former sanitation worker employed at Dharmasthala.
He has alleged that he was made to bury multiple bodies that had signs of sexual assault and was warned against disclosing it by his supervisors. He said he had fled Dharmasthala a decade ago, returned recently due to “guilty consciousness”, and filed a complaint.