Rajkot: A 27-year-old Junagadh labourer and part-time YouTuber, Abjal Sida, has filed a police complaint alleging harassment, threats, and an extortion attempt by a controversial social media personality and her associates. Sida claimed the group, led by YouTuber Kirti Patel, demanded Rs 20 lakh and threatened to falsely implicate him in a criminal case, including a rape charge, after he uploaded videos criticising Patel’s actions during a recent religious fair. Sida, who lives in Junagadh, said the dispute began after the recent Shivratri fair. He alleged that Kirti Patel, known for content on YouTube and Facebook, participated in a sacred bath disguised as a monk, an act he and others found disrespectful to Sanatan Dharma. Despite being Muslim, Sida said he respects Sanatan Dharma and had used his Instagram account to post videos opposing Patel’s conduct. According to his complaint, the backlash was swift. Patel and her associates — Divya Savlani, her boyfriend Jashpalsinh, Hanu Chavda, and Veeram Mevada — allegedly began calling and messaging Sida on Instagram, using abusive language and demanding he remove his videos. Sida further alleged that the threats escalated into an extortion attempt. He claimed the group demanded Rs 20 lakh and warned that if he refused to pay, they would have him jailed by implicating him in a false criminal case. The harassment reportedly pushed Sida into distress. After a night of threats, he consumed phenyl at his home and again near the Jetpur railway bridge, where a woman found him and rushed him to Jetpur government hospital. He had also reportedly recorded a video of the act. Jetpur police recorded his statement at the hospital and forwarded it to Junagadh police. Based on that, a complaint was registered with Junagadh taluka police station against all the accused under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 308(4), 308(6), 351(3), 54, and 296(b). Patel was also booked for allegedly misbehaving with a woman police constable during the fair, in a complaint filed with Bhavnath police station on Feb 17. She allegedly argued with police officers when she was asked to leave the sacred bath area after monks objected to her presence, ahead of the chief minister’s visit.
