Ahmed Ali (THE TIMES OF INDIA; August 9, 2020)

Mumbai: Indian rapper Aditya Pratik Singh Sisodia aka Badshah has reportedly told police that he has paid Rs 75 lakh to enhance views and likes on social media.

Badshah was not available for comment and did not respond to text messages. Crime branch has been questioning him for three days.

A social media company issued him a receipt showing it as an advertisement, an officer said. Based on his statement police have summoned company officials on Tuesday. “We have also sought documents and financial transactions before coming to any conclusion,’’ the officer said.

He is also known for Hindi, Haryani and Punjabi songs. He started his career in 2006 along with Yo Yo Honey Singh in his hip hop group Mafia Mundeer, and in 2012 started his own band.

Last year, he created a record when his video Pagal was viewed 75 million times in a day on YouTube.

Police claimed several Bollywood personalities and celebrities have paid such companies to increase followers. They have benefited from bots, a software application that runs automated tasks over the Internet. Tasks run by bots are typically simple and performed at a higher rate. Some bots are legitimate, like Googlebot trawls the Internet and indexes content for search. Other bots, like those used to automatically scan websites for software vulnerabilities and execute simple attack patterns, are malicious.

The rapper was questioned for more than five hours on Friday. “His statement is yet not over and hence he has been asked to appear before the police on Saturday,” Sachin Waze, the inspector probing the case, had said. He told police that Chtrbox social media influencer company had misused his name and hence he had even issued a legal notice to it.

Police are also likely to summon officials of Chtrbox again on Monday. Last week, police had recorded statements of various directors of Chtrbox.

The case came to light after singer Bhoomi Trivedi complained that someone had opened a fictitious Instagram account in her name.

Police arrested Abhishek Dawde and later Kashif Mansoor of companies running a fake influencer racket on social media.
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MID-DAY (August 9, 2020)

Rapper Badshah was grilled by the Mumbai Police for over nine hours on Friday in connection with probe into a racket which creates and sells fake social media followers and 'likes', according to an official from Mumbai Police.

Now, the singer has put out a statement denied all the allegations levelled against him. He also stated that he has complete faith in the authorities investigating the matter. His complete statement read: "Following the summons, I have spoken to the Mumbai Police. I have aided the officials in their investigation by cooperating and carrying out the due diligence on my part. I've categorically denied all the allegations levelled against me and made it clear that I was never involved in such practices, nor do I condone them. The investigation procedure is being executed in accordance with the law and I have complete faith in the authorities, who are handling this matter. I'd like to thank all those who have conveyed their concern to me. It means a lot to me".

The CIU started probing the racket after Bollywood singer Bhumi Trivedi found that somebody had created her fake profile on social media and complained to the police