New Delhi:

Youtuber Ashish Chanchlani has moved the Supreme Court seeking to quash or transfer to Mumbai an FIR registered in Guwahati in connection with a case of allegedly promoting obscenity in an online show.

Chanchlani is one of the persons named in the case registered in Assam, in which podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia is the key accused because of his controversial comments on the YouTube show ‘India’s Got Latent’.

The plea is listed for hearing before an top court bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice N Kotiswar Singh on Friday.

In his plea, drafted through advocate Shubham Kulshreshtha and filed by advocate Manju Jaitley, Chanchlani has sought quashing of the FIR registered at Cyber police station Police Commissionerate, Guwahati Crime Branch, Assam.

“Quash the FIR bearing No. 03 of 2025 registered at Cyber PS Police Commissionerate, Guwahati Crime Branch, Assam as it was registered later,” the plea said.

Alternatively, the Youtuber has sought transfer of the FIR registered at Cyber PS Police Commissionerate, Guwahati Crime Branch, Assam to Mumbai Police Station Nodal Cyber, Mumbai as FIR bearing No. 05 of 2025 registered at Mumbai Police Station Nodal Cyber, Mumbai was registered first.

The Gauhati High Court Tuesday granted interim bail to Chanchlani while hearing his anticipatory bail petition and asked him to be present before the investigating officer within 10 days.

Chanchlani’s counsels had argued that their client did not utter anything in the show and the allegations in the FIR were made against the co-accused persons only.

The FIR was registered by the Guwahati Police on a complaint of an individual on February 10 under various sections of the Bhartiya Nyay Sanhtia (BNS), Information Technology Act, Cinematograph Act and Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.

The top court on February 18 granted interim protection from arrest to podcaster Allahbadia over his comments on a YouTube show while calling it “vulgar” and saying he had a “dirty mind” which put society to shame.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court is set to hear YouTuber and Podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia’s petition today, seeking the clubbing of multiple cases filed against him over his controversial remarks made on comedian Samay Raina’s show ‘India’s Got Latent’. A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh is expected to take up the case today.

The hearing has been scheduled after Allahbadia, who is facing police inquiries, moved the Supreme Court last week asking the FIRs against him to be combined. He also sought anticipatory bail to ward off arrest from Guwahati Police. Last week, Allahbadia’s lawyer, Abhinav Chandrachud – the son of former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud – sought an urgent listing of the matter in the top court. However, the request was turned down by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna.

Several FIRs have been filed against Allahbadia aka ‘BeerBiceps Guy’ in Maharashtra, Assam, and Jaipur – following which he has been asked to appear in person to record statements. He is yet to respond to investigation agencies after being named in FIRs filed by Maharashtra Cyber Department, Guwahati Police, and Jaipur Police in the ‘India’s Got Latent’ case, the police said.

Days after trying to get in touch with the Podcaster, the Mumbai and Guwahati police issued a joint statement on Monday saying Allahbadia has continuously been out of contact with the investigation agencies.

“Apart from Maharashtra Cyber and Guwahati Police, the Jaipur Police have also filed a case against Ranveer Allahbadia, but he has not yet been in contact with them too. Maharashtra Cyber Department has ordered Ranveer to appear before it on February 24,” it said.

Last week, officials went to look for Allahbadia at his Mumbai residence, but his apartment was locked.

Allahbadia was also supposed to appear before the National Commission for Women (NCW) on Monday morning, but as with the summons from Mumbai Police, he skipped the call. He has been summoned again by the women’s panel on March 6.

The Podcaster has cited death threats for not being able to appear before the investigating agencies. Posting a statement on social media, Allahbadia said, “I am watching death threats pour in from people saying they want to kill me… hurt my family…Some even tried to invade my other’s clinic posing as patients.”

“I am feeling scared and I don’t know what to do… But I am not running away. I have full faith in the police and the judicial system of India,” he added.

‘India’s Got Latent’ row

A huge row broke out after Allahbadia made distasteful comments about parents and sex on Raina’s show ‘India’s Got Latent’. The remarks sparked massive outrage and a debate in Parliament, leading to multiple complaints against the social media personality.

Cases have been filed against other YouTubers who appeared on the show including Raina, Ashish Chanchlani, Jaspreet Singh, and Apoorva Mukhija.

Hours after the episode was taken down from YouTube, Raina issued a statement saying he had removed all videos of the show from his channel and was “fully cooperating” with the authorities. “Everything that has been happening has been too much for me to handle. I have removed all India’s Got Latent videos from my channel. My only objective was to make people laugh and have a good time. I will fully cooperate with all agencies to ensure their inquiries are concluded fairly. Thank you,” he said.

Allahbadia also apologised in a video saying his comments were not “just inappropriate but also not even funny”.

“Comedy is not my forte, I am just here to say sorry,” he said in a video message. He also acknowledged he had misused his platform. “I am not going to give any context or justification or reasoning behind whatever happened. I am just here for an apology. I personally had a lapse in judgment. It wasn’t cool on my part,” he said.

New Delhi:

The National Commission for Women (NCW) has issued a new hearing date for ‘India’s Got Latent’ Youtubers including Ranveer Allahbadia and Samay Raina after they failed to appear in response to its summons regarding crass remarks made on their show. The women’s panel had summoned Ranveer Allahabadia, Samay Raina, Apoorva Mukhija, Jaspreet Singh, Ashish Chanchlani, Tushar Poojari, Saurabh Bothra and Balraj Ghai, to appear before it today at noon.

However, all the creators failed to appear before the panel citing concerns over personal safety, prior travel commitments, and other logistical challenges.

Ranveer Allahbadia, citing death threats had requested the commission to postpone the hearing for three weeks. He has now been summoned before the panel on March 6. Similarly, Apoorva Mukhija had expressed safety concerns and requested the panel to appear virtually. However, the panel denied her request and issued a fresh date of March 6 to appear before it.

Samay Raina, who is currently on a pre-planned tour to the US, assured the commission that he will appear for a hearing once he returns to India. The commission accepted his request and rescheduled the hearing for March 11. Comedian Jaspreet Singh is also on a pre-planned tour in Paris and will return by March 10. He has also been asked to appear before the panel on March 11.

Ashish Chanchlani, whose lawyer appeared on his behalf citing illness, has been granted a rescheduled hearing on March 6.

Producer of the show ‘India’s Got Latent’, Balraj Ghai, informed the commission that he is currently out of India and will respond once he returns. To this, the commission has rescheduled the hearing on March 11. The other two producers – Tushar Poojari and Saurabh Bothra – did not respond to the summons, drawing condemnation from the panel. They have been summoned again to reappear on March 6.

Additionally, Maharashtra Cyber Cell had asked Raina to record his statement in person on February 18. However, since the YouTuber is on a tour in the US, he filed a petition saying he would not be able to return to India before March 17. The Cyber Cell has refused the petition.

‘India’s Got Latent’ row

A huge row broke out after YouTuber and podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia, known as ‘BeerBiceps’, made distasteful comments about parents and sex on Raina’s show ‘India’s Got Latent’. The remarks sparked massive outrage, leading to multiple complaints against the social media personality.

Earlier this week, teams of Mumbai and Assam police visited Allahbadia’s home to record his statement, but they found it locked. A day later, Allahbadia issued a statement on social media saying he has been cooperating with the police and all other authorities and “will be available to all the agencies”. He also mentioned that he has been getting death threats.

Raina also issued a statement saying he had removed all videos of the show from his channel and was “fully cooperating” with the authorities. “Everything that has been happening has been too much for me to handle. I have removed all India’s Got Latent videos from my channel. My only objective was to make people laugh and have a good time. I will fully cooperate with all agencies to ensure their inquiries are concluded fairly. Thank you,” he said.