Nepali-speaking man in Varanasi video is an Indian national, say police

Varanasi Police said he was a local and was known to the people who shot the video.

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Nepali-speaking man who was allegedly tonsured and forced to chant anti-Nepal slogans in a video made by members of a fringe group in Varanasi has turned out to be an Indian national who was paid ₹1,000 to play his part, police said on Saturday.

The police have so far arrested six persons in relation with the FIR lodged at Bhelupur under several Sections of the IPC including Sections 295,153A and 120, and Section 67 of the IT Act.

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A day after the video of the incident, in which an unidentified Nepali speaking man with a mask was forced to raise slogans against Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Oli and chant Jai Shri Ram, Varanasi Police said he was a local and was known to the people who shot the video.

Senior Superintendent of Police Varanasi Amit Pathak said the said person was born in Varanasi, was its registered voter and even held an Aadhaar card. The man lived in the government quarters of the Jal Sansthan, where his brother is currently employed and his parents had retired from, the officer added.

“He was known to those people who made the objectionable video,” said Mr. Pathak, adding that the man received ₹1,000 for his part.

In a statement, police said that the man did not have any memory of his ancestors living in Nepal. On July 16, Rajesh Rajbhar and Jai Ganesh, two of the accused persons, met the man and invited him to the ghat for a “programme” involving shaving off [his] hair and told him he would be paid ₹1,000, police said.