The controversy around the newly- famous ‘Baba Ka Dhaba’ is getting deeper as the eatery owner in Malviya Nagar has filed a complaint with Delhi Police over misappropriation of donations against Food Blogger and Youtuber Gaurav Wasan of Swad Official. The complaint has been filed under sections of cheating, mischief, criminal breach of trust, criminal conspiracy, misappropriation of funds and other relevant sections of IPC. Gaurav was the first person to post a video of the old couple that went viral on social media. After that, several YouTubers, influencers, celebrities, and government officials had came forward to help the couple in need.
https://twitter.com/Babaisdigital/status/1322618877365219328?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwThe complaint against Gaurav Wasan
As per the copy of the complaint posted by the official account of Baba Ka Dhaba on Twitter, the 80-year-old owner of the eatery has said that the Food Blogger approached him on 6th October to shoot a video, and it was shot on 7th October. The video was published on his channel Swad Official on several social media platforms, including Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram. In the video, Gaurav Wasan tried to convince people to support the old couple running the eatery.
In his video, the Gaurav Wasan allegedly said that the eatery owner Kanta Prasad does not have any mobile number and asked for donations in his own account instead of giving the details of the Prasad. The videos went viral on social media platforms on 7th October, after which people started contacting Gaurav for donations. He “intentionally and deliberately” shared his and his family/friends’ bank details/mobile number with them and “collected a huge amount of donations through different mode of payments”, the complaint alleges. It also says that while Prasad mentioned his account details while shooting the video, Wasan only published his and his family/friends’ account details to collect donations.
Wasan had denied the allegations
On 26th October, YouTuber Lakshay Chaudhary published a video alleging that Wasan has misappropriated donations, and he was not paying the collected funds to Prasad. After Chaudhary’s video went viral, Wasan published a video denying all the allegations. He also published a video with his bank statement saying he had collected around Rs.2.3 Lakh during the donation drive that he had paid to Prasad. However, several influencers, including Madhur, aka The Placard Guy, and others who were in regular touch with the elderly couple, alleged Wasan collected much more than he claimed. They alleged that he is trying to embezzle the money that rightfully belongs to the couple.
The Twitter handle that published the copy of the complaint is managed by Tushant Adhlaka, one of the regular supporters of Baba Ka Dhaba.