Rashid Siddiqui (left) and Vibhor Anand at the Cyber Cell police station in Bandra

Mumbai: YouTuber Rashid Siddiqui, a final-year civil engineering student from Bihar who was booked for uploading videos defaming environment and tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray and home minister Anil Deshmukh in connection with actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case, was granted anticipatory bail by the sessions court last week.

Siddiqui (25), who owns FF News YouTube channel, is the third person against whom police have taken legal action for carrying out a malicious campaign by uploading fake news stories on Rajput’s death case.

Earlier, police had arrested Nagpur’s Sameet Thakkar and Delhi-based advocate Vibhor Anand for posting defamatory tweets about Maharashtra ministers and spreading conspiracy theories.

Siddiqui was booked in August after Shiv Sena’s legal cell advocate Dharmendra Mishra lodged an FIR against unknown persons under Indian Penal Code sections for defamation, public mischief and intentional insult.

While granting him anticipatory bail, the court directed Siddiqui to cooperate with the investigation and report to cyber police once a week.

In a series of videos, Siddiqui had made derogatory claims about the Maharashtra ministers as well as some actors.

Siddiqui’s lawyer J P Jaiswal said, “Rashid is a YouTuber and whatever videos he had uploaded were not made by him. He is not an investigator nor has he aired his own opinions. He has put question marks in all his videos and the information has been collected from various sources.”

Police investigations have suggested Siddiqui earned Rs 6.5 lakh by spreading fake news on social media in four months. “I have all the records with me. He earned a total revenue of Rs 15 lakh through subscription and advertisements from YouTube in three years,” said Jaiswal.

Rajput committed suicide in his Bandra flat on June 14.

Rashid Siddiqui (left) and Vibhor Anand at the Cyber Cell police station in Bandra

A Youtuber from Bihar accused of running malicious campaigns by publishing fake stories over actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death allegedly earned over Rs 15 lakh in four months from his content, investigations have revealed. Accused, Rashid Siddiqui, 25, is a civil engineer from Bihar. Advocate Dharmendra Mishra of the Shiv Sena's legal cell had filed a case against Siddiqui, who owns the channel 'FF News'.

The police have filed a case on charges of defamation, public mischief and intentional insult. The court has granted Siddiqui anticipatory bail and asked him to cooperate in the probe. His posts against Mumbai police, Maharashtra government, minister Aaditya Thackeray and actor Akshay Kumar were viewed by lakhs of netizens. Kumar served a Rs 500-crore defamation notice to Siddiqui on Tuesday.

According to police, after Siddiqui's initial posts on Rajput's death were widely viewed, he posted more such content and earned Rs. 6.5 lakh in September.

The cyber police had earlier held Delhi-based advocate Vibhor Anand for posting videos related to Rajput's death and verbally abusing the chief minister and Aaditya. The content got Anand thousands of subscribers while Siddiqui, who had 2 lakh subscribers before Rajput's death, now has over 3.70 lakh.

"The actor's death was used as an opportunity to earn money as people were curious about the case. Once the media started reporting different theories, YouTubers too grabbed the opportunity and started posting fake content. They maligned Mumbai police's image and earned money during the lockdown," a senior IPS officer said.

With regards to Kumar, Siddiqui had made claims like the actor being unhappy about Rajput having bagged the film M S Dhoni - The Untold Story, having secret meetings with the Mumbai police and Aaditya regarding his death, and having helped Rhea Chakraborty escape to Canada.

Yasir Shaikh, founder of Macksofy Technologies Pvt Ltd, told mid-day, "YouTube income is generated by advertisements through AdSense, sponsorships with popular brands, and affiliate links. Some times content creators produce material based on trends and try to make it viral without verifying the information. This spreads fake news. Also, it becomes very difficult for law enforcement officials to block videos immediately as they become viral and Google also starts making profits due to the ads."

. April: $96 (Rs 7,120)

. May: $04 (Rs 296)

. June: $515 (Rs 38,200)

. July: $3,667 (Rs 2,75,005)

. August: $7,518 (Rs 5,57,658)

. September: $8,775 (Rs 6,50,898)

. October: $3,211 (Rs 2,38,180)

. November: $484 (Rs 35,901)