Instagram Influencer Arrested For "Objectionable" Videos At Railway Station, Apologises

Instagram influencer and YouTuber Adarsh Shukla was arrested by the Railway Protection Force (RPF), IT cell, on Friday over his “objectionable” Instagram videos. Central Railway released a video on YouTube where Mr Shukla, with folded hands, appeals to the public not to create such videos.

In the video, we see the “stunts” he is talking about. In one of those, he stands at the edge of a railway platform and lights a cigarette as a train crosses behind him. He moves away from the edge only at the last moment. In the second video, he squats down on railway tracks and begins to smoke.

Central Railway's RPF IT cell received a complaint on Twitter and tracked his videos. Immediately, after receiving the complaint, RPF IT cell — IPF Badlapur and IPF Kalyan — swung into action. The team tracked his BMW car number and caught him. Thereafter, Mr Shukla deleted the videos and apologised to his 6.3 lakh Instagram followers.

Central Railway uploaded the YouTube video with a caption that praised RPF for its immediate action. It also called Mr Shukla a “habitual objectionable Instagram video creator”, adding that he has appealed to the “general public not to create such offendable videos”.

In the video, Mr Shukla mentions the two videos and begs pardon for his actions. He said, “Train se mazak masti wali video na banaye (Do not make videos that depict fooling around trains or railways).” He repeated several times that such action could lead to legal action from the RPF cell.

A YouTube user named Indian Rail World commended the action by RPF Mumbai Division and commented, “There are a lot of videos (by people) who perform such stunts in front of the train but RPF did an amazing job.”

Another viewer recommended deleting the social media accounts of such influencers. The user wrote, “Losing their fans and followers is their real loss and punishment.”