'Nepali' youth seen getting tonsured turns out to be Varanasi local; cops say he received Rs 1000 for viral clip

In what comes as a shocking development, the Varanasi Police on Saturday claimed that a man seen getting tonsured in a viral anti-Nepal video is actually a local who was paid Rs 1,000 to be a part of the clip. The 'Nepalese' youth seen getting tonsured by the Vishwa Hindu Sena (VHS) in protest against Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's remarks about Lord Ram has now claimed that he was paid Rs. 1,000 to get his head shaved.

For context, a video was released on the evening of July 16 from the Facebook account of Arun Pathak of the VHS, in which the head of a certain 'Nepalese; youth could be seen being tonsured and 'Jai Shri Ram' written on. This was apparently being done in protest against Nepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's claims that Ayodhya was in Nepal.

The video went viral on social media, following which the Varanasi Police took cognizance of the video clip and arrested as many as six individuals in connection with the act. The administration also registered a case against those allegedly involved in the incident and started combing the region.

However, on reaching the bottom of the case, more startling revelations came to light. Varanasi Police retrieved case details and clues which pointed towards the fact that the young man who got his head shaved was actually an Indian born in Varanasi and not really a 'Nepalese', as claimed earlier. The person's Voter ID card and AADHAAR card also show that he is based in Varanasi.

According to sources, the person already knew the accused in the case from prior and had received Rs. 1,000 in return of getting his head shaved.

Amit Pathak, the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Varanasi, said that a contact was established with the person who appeared as the 'Nepalese' youth in the video and it has been found that his residence is in the town's government colonies itself. Additionally, it was found that both of the person's parents also work for government jobs.

Varanasi Police is currently investigating the case and has so far arrested six persons in connection with the incident. The arrested individuals have been identified as Santosh Pandey, Ashish Mishra, Raju Yadav, Amit Dubey, Rajesh Rajbhar, and Jai Ganesh Sharma.

In the entire case, the hunt is still on for Vishwa Hindu Sena president and chief accused Arun Pathak. The police have launched a search and are confident that the accused will be in custody soon.