Police have arrested a 23-year-old YouTuber after he claimed to have spent more than 24 hours at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport recording videos on his mobile phone without being caught.
Vikas Gowda, a resident of Yelahanka, entered the airport with a valid ticket for Air India’s Bengaluru-Chennai flight (AI-585) around 12.06 pm on April 7 but roamed around the premises instead of boarding the flight, according to a police officer.
On April 12, Vikas uploaded a video on his YouTube channel (@VikasGowda1) claiming that he had spent more than 24 hours in the airport and cast aspersions on the security arrangements in place. Vikas, who has close to 1.13 lakh subscribers, claimed that he was never noticed or questioned by the security staff at the airport.
After his video went viral, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), responsible for the airport’s security, filed a complaint on April 15 stating that he had spread false information. He was immediately arrested but released on bail. The video was later taken down.
The police officer said, “Investigations revealed that Vikas spent four to five hours in the airport but never took the flight to Chennai. As it was a domestic airline, he didn’t have to pass through immigration and he left the airport. He was not in the airport for more than 24 hours, contrary to his claim in the video. We have confiscated his mobile phone, which he has to get released from the court later. He did have a valid ticket but investigations suggest that he did it for publicity.”
Vikas Gowda has been booked under sections 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) and 448 (house trespass) of the Indian Penal Code. He will have to appear before the police when they call him for questioning.