Gaurav Taneja with his wife Ritu Rathee
YouTuber Gaurav Taneja was arrested in Uttar Pradesh's Noida today after his followers gathered in large numbers at a metro station to celebrate his birthday, reports ANI. Taneja, who runs the YouTube channel 'Flying Beast', had planned to celebrate his birthday at the Sector 51 Metro Station in Noida.
Yesterday, Taneja had posted a request on his Instagram page asking followers to gather at the metro station. Following this, thousands of people turned up at Sector 51 metro station, resulting in a stampede.
Gaurav Taneja has over 3.3 million followers on Instagram. Last month, he landed in a controversy after he called 'havan' a natural antidote to pollution.
His wife Ritu Rathee, who has over 1.6 million followers on Instagram, today said that she had booked an entire metro in which they would celebrate Taneja's birthday and cut the cake. "We will be restricted by maximum capacity of a Metro given by NMRC. Lekin sabse milege zaroor (But we will meet everyone)," she posted on Instagram yesterday.
Mr Taneja was first detained for violating the prohibitory orders imposed in Noida, in view of the rising Covid cases. Noida police then arrested him for disobedience to order duly communicated by public servant.
Hours after his arrest, Gaurav Taneja was trending on Twitter.
He was granted bail late in the night.
Gaurav Taneja is currently one of the most popular YouTubers in India with millions of subscribers across his three YouTube channels-- 'Flying Beast', 'Fit Muscle TV' and 'Rasbhari Ke Papa' where he makes fitness-related videos as well as his daily life vlogs and live streams.
A civil engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, Taneja is currently pursuing law at the faculty of law, Delhi University.