RTI activist and YouTuber arrested for extortion in Haryana's Gurugram

Gurugram: An RTI activist and a YouTuber have been arrested here for allegedly extorting a private school operator by blackmailing him, police on Saturday said.

The two accused, identified as RTI activist Sukhbir Tanwar and YouTuber M K Maurya, were produced in a city court and sent into judicial custody, police said.

An FIR was registered against them at Sector 37 Police Station, they said.

Pradeep Kaushik, the chairman of GAV International School, in his complaint said that a person named Sukhbir Tanwar had filed an RTI in the Education Department against his school in October 2022.

Kaushik alleged that Tanwar had through this RTI started a business of blackmailing him.

He said that a case was filed in the court to blackmail him and Tanwar demanded Rs 10 lakh for withdrawing it.

Kaushik added that he gave Tanwar Rs 2.5 lakh in the court premises on December 5, 2024 to save his school's image when he did not agree even after a lot of efforts.

He said that Tanwar withdrew the case on April 8 this year, but his blackmailing did not stop.

Kaushik further said that an RTI was filed against his school in other departments, including the Income Tax Department, on April 15.

Tanwar demanded Rs 5 lakh this time, he added in complaint.

"This time Sukhbir Tanwar contacted him through a YouTuber MK Maurya and both of them started pressuring me and demanded Rs 5 lakh," Kaushik said in his complaint.

He said that he called the duo to his school in Sector 37 on May 8 and gave them Rs 25,000 while asking them to pay the remaining amount later.

"This entire incident was captured on CCTV cameras. After this, I lodged a police complaint," said Kaushik.

An FIR was registered against the two accused at Sector 37 Police Station following the complaint and they were arrested on Friday.

A senior police officer said that the accused were sent to jail.

Further probe is underway in connection with the matter, he added.