NEW DELHI: Kanta Prasad (80), who runs the now-famous Baba Ka Dhaba in south Delhi, has filed a complaint against YouTuber influencer and food blogger Gaurav Wasan for allegedly misappropriating funds that were raised to help their business.
Prasad and his food stall became the talk of the town when Wasan shot a video of him tearfully recounting his struggle to keep the business running since the lockdown. The video was shared across social media platforms and people came out in droves to support #BabaKaDhaba.
Now, in his complaint Prasad has alleged that Gaurav Wasan shot his video and posted it online, asking the public on social media to donate money to the eatery owner.
Prasad also claimed that Wasan "intentionally and deliberately shared only his and his family and friends’ bank details and mobile numbers with the donors and collected a huge amount of donation through different modes of payments without providing any information to him.”
DCP (south) Atul Kumar Thakur said, “We received the complaint yesterday and are enquiring into it.” No FIR has been registered yet.
On his part, Wasan has denied the allegations and said he transferred all the money into Prasad’s account: “When I shot the video, I didn’t know it would become this big. I didn’t want people to harass Baba (Prasad) so I shared my bank details…” The food blogger shared three receipts of the transactions, all dated 27 October — two cheques of Rs 1,00,000 and Rs 2,33,000 and one receipt of bank payment of Rs 45,000. He said this was the amount of money collected in three days. Wasan also put up a bank statement on Facebook in which the total money credited in the three days is around Rs 3.5 lakh.
Asked about the other two transactions, Prasad said he hasn’t been able to check his account as he doesn’t carry his phone.
This turn of events has created quite a stir, with some questioning Wasan’s motivations, and others berating Prasad for turning on his benefactor. While some YouTubers accused Wasan of receiving Rs 20-25 lakh in donations, Wasan has strongly refuted it. “We have initiated legal action against the YouTubers,” he said.
