It called the comments "vulgar" and "obscene".
Bengaluru police arrested YouTuber Praneeth Hanumantu in connection with an FIR filed over “inappropriate” comments about a child.
Originally from Andhra Pradesh, Hanumantu is a resident of Begumpet.
He was named as the main accused in the FIR, which was registered on July 7, 2024.
The incident relates to a video on his YouTube channel phanumantu, which has 172,000 subscribers.
In the video, Hanumantu and a few friends had been chatting.
While reacting to a reel involving a father and daughter, the YouTuber and his friends sexualised their relationship, sparking widespread outrage.
The video has since been set to private.
A police statement read: “He has been absconding since the matter came to light.”
It called the comments “vulgar” and “obscene”.
Hanumantu has since been arrested and was produced before the local magistrate in Bengaluru for a transit warrant to bring him to Hyderabad.
Efforts are being made to arrest the other men in the video.
The FIR was initiated on July 7 after Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Deputy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said appropriate action would be taken against those found guilty of child abuse on social media.
This was pointed out by Telugu actor Sai Dharam Tej.
On X, the actor tweeted: “Monsters like these go unnoticed on the very much utilised social platform doing child abuse in the disguise of so-called Fun & Dank.
“Child Safety is the need of the hour.”
The actor had tagged the chief ministers and deputy chief ministers of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in a plea for action against such disturbing content on social media.
In response, Revanth Reddy and Bhatti Vikramarka expressed their gratitude to Tej for bringing the matter to their attention and reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring child safety as a top priority for the Telangana government.
Praneeth Hanumantu was previously seen alongside Sudheer Babu in the film Harom Hara.
Following the controversy, Sudheer expressed his disgust over working with the YouTuber in the film.
He tweeted: “For good or bad, I’m not a social media guy nor do I keep up with things.
“I feel so disgusted by the fact we had #PraneethHanumanthu casted in Harom Hara.
“Sincere apologies from me and my entire team. We didn’t know what a pathetic creature this man was. It wasn’t in my knowledge.”
Loading ...