Nashik: A first information report (FIR) was filed on Tuesday, July 14, against popular YouTuber Manish Kashyap and three others for their coverage regarding ethanol-blended petrol (E20).
The FIR says Kashyap and others spread misleading information about E20. He uploaded a video on his channel, Manish Kashyap Son of Bihar, claiming that his Toyota Innova Hycross developed breakdown-like issues after being fuelled with E20 petrol, despite the model being officially certified as compatible with fuel containing up to 20 per cent ethanol.
In one of the videos, he displayed fuel samples collected from different parts of the vehicle’s fuel system, alleging they showed unusually high ethanol content and visible contamination.
In another, Kashyap showed the vehicle’s fuel tank after it had been removed, claiming the fuel pump and filter assembly had been affected.
He also questioned whether the costs of inspection, cleaning and replacement would be covered under the vehicle’s extended warranty if the problem was classified as fuel contamination.
The Nashik Police filed a case under Sections 353 (public mischief), 356 (defamation) and 296 (obscene acts, songs or words executed in or near a public place to cause annoyance) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act.
Manish Kashyap is from Bihar’s West Champaran district. He is a civil engineering graduate from Savitribai Phule Pune University. His YouTube channel has more than 9.3 million subscribers. He is known for social and political commentary.
On the same day, Union Minister of Road Transport Nitin Gadkari challenged critics to identify “a single car” that had developed problems because of the fuel. “There is no case of any car facing issues due to E20 petrol. Has there been any car in the country that faced issues due to the use of E20 petrol? Just name one,” he said.
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