Controversial YouTuber Praneeth Hanumanthu sent to judicial remand

Hyderabad: Controversial YouTuber Praneeth Hanumantu, accused of making disgusting comments about a child on a podcast, was remanded to 14 days of judicial custody on Thursday. He was then sent to Chanchalguda jail. 

He was produced in Nampally court a day after the Telangana police arrested him in Bengaluru and brought him to Hyderabad on a transit warrant. The Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB) interrogated him for ‘joking’ about paedophilia. 

While commenting on a video of a Telugu family living in the US, the YouTuber had alluded to an inappropriate relationship between a father and daughter shown in it. Tollywood actors Sai Dharam Tej and Manchu Manoj called out Praneeth on social media which sparked an outrage from different quarters. Telangana State Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB) took cognisance of the issue and filed an FIR against Praneeth and three others Bhargav, also known as Dallas Nageshwar Rao, Burra Yuvaraj and Adi Pedireddy for engaging in an obscene conversation over the father-daughter relationship.

The case was registered against the YouTuber under FIR number 18/2024 and under relevant sections of the IT Act, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and POCSO Act. Following this, Praneeth went incommunicado and absconded.  The Telangana police tracked down and apprehended him in Bengaluru. 

Praneeth Hanumanthu is a prominent Telugu YouTuber with over 170K subscribers. He often shares roasting videos with his friends but recently crossed a line by making insensitive comments on paedophilia. In a recent video, he mocked a father-daughter relationship with crude jokes and offensive remarks alongside his associates.

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