‘Baba Ka Dhaba’ Owner Files Complaint Against YouTuber For Fund Misappropriation

Kanta Prasad (80), who runs the now famous Baba Ka Dhaba in Malviya Nagar, South Delhi, has filed a complaint against YouTuber Gaurav Wasan for allegedly misappropriating donation money that was raised to assist him and his wife.

Gaurav had posted a heart breaking video of the elderly man and his wife on October 6, which showed the couple talking about lack of consumers at the eatery in Malviya Nagar, post lockdown, following which several people donated money.

A day after this heartbreaking video, #Babakadhaba was trending on Twitter and therefore the food joint was flooded with more customers than it had seen within the last 30 years of being in business.

On Sunday Prasad (owner of Baba ka Dhaba) told a media organization that he had only received a cheque of Rs 2 lakh from Wasan “I don’t get tons of consumers now; most of the people come here to require selfies… Earlier i used to be earning over Rs 10,000 per day, now it’s Rs 3,000-Rs 5,000,” he said.

The complaint filed by Prasad, along side a gaggle of men, at Malviya Nagar police headquarters Saturday claims Wasan “deliberately shared his and his family’s bank details and picked up an enormous amount as donation”.

DCP (South) Atul Kumar Thakur said, “We received the complaint yesterday and are enquiring into it.” However, no FIR has been registered yet.

Social Media Outrage:
Before the complaint came into light, famous YouTubers like Madstorm and Lakshay Chaudhary posted social awareness videos with captions like “Jaago donor jaago”. In their respective videos the YouTubers were seen urging the general public to assist the needy around them rather than blindly donating to someone all the way in Delhi. YouTubers raised their concern about how people were travelling from other cities to Delhi to donate to Baba ka Dhaba rather than donating to the less famous needy residing within the next street.

Last week Youtuber Lakshay Chaudhary also raised a priority over how the donations were being collected by Gaurav Wasan in his own checking account which seemed fishy. The video gained 1M+ views following which many nitezens took to the web to question Gaurav Wasan about the appropriation of donated money received by him and few even spoke about the double standards of donors who donated to Baba ka Dhaba.

1. within the Initial video released on Oct 6 2020 on Gaurav Wasan’s YouTube channel ‘Swad official’ which now has 3.3M + views, Gaurav is heard saying that the couple has only made a purchase of 50/- from 9:00 AM – 1:30 PM. The couple was also heard saying that they were struggling to form both ends meet and sometimes the investment exceeded their income. However, within the police complaint the owner of Baba ka Dhaba, Kanta Prasad (80) has said that his average daily sale was of Rs. 10,000/- until the video went viral after which the sale had decreased to 3000/-to 5000/- per day as people were more curious about taking selfies than eating at the dhaba.

2. On Oct 14, 2020, every week after the primary video, a second video was released on ‘Swad official’ during which the owner of Baba ka Dhaba is head saying that before lockdown his daily average sale was Rs. 1000/- to Rs. 1200/- leaving them with a profit of Rs. 7000/- to 8000/- per month. However, post lockdown their average daily sale dropped to Rs. 250/- to 500/-
In the same video Baba also said that his life had changed and maybe become better after Gaurav’s video went viral because it attracted more customers along side donations. But, the narrative given by Baba within the police complaint contradicts what he was heard saying within the videos uploaded on ‘Swad Official’

3. On 7 and 8th Oct, 2020 Gaurav posted a video on his Facebook page during which both Baba and Gaurav were seen informing the viewers that that they had received sufficient money and needed no more, subsequently they also urged the viewers to now help other needy people which again contradicts the chances of ‘financial difficulties’ Baba has mentioned within the police complaint.

4. On 28th Oct, 2020 Gaurav uploaded a 3rd video on YouTube concerning an equivalent issue. during this video he showed proofs of the appropriation of donations and clarified various user queries. This video also contains alittle clip of Baba and Gaurav during which Gaurav are often seen delivering a check of Rs. 2,33,000 to Baba. Following which he’s also heard saying to Baba that Baba’s remaining money is safe with him and he will provide an equivalent to Baba in no time.

Gaurav’s Defense :

Gaurav denied the allegations and said he transferred all the cash into Prasad’s account. He said “When I shot the video, I didn’t realize it would become this big. I didn’t want people to harass Baba (Prasad) so I shared my bank details…” Wasan shared three receipts of the transactions, all dated October 27 — two cheques of Rs 1,00,000 and Rs 2,33,000 and one receipt of bank payment of Rs 45,000. He said this was the quantity of cash collected within the three days. Wasan also put up a statement on Facebook during which the entire money credited within the three days is around Rs 3.5 lakhs. When he was asked about the opposite two transactions, Prasad said he hasn’t been ready to check his account as he doesn’t carry his phone.

Public Response :
However, social media users are having a tough time trusting Gaurav as they appear dissatisfied together with his explanations. Many YouTubers even raised a priority that Gaurav shared excel sheets as proof of the funds received by him which does not qualify as a legitimate proof as excel sheets are often edited. People are growing further suspicious about Gaurav’s intentions because the comment section of Gaurav’s latest clarification video on YouTube was turned off.

While some YouTubers alleged Wasan received Rs 20-25 lakhs, Wasan denied it and provided more clarity on the matter during a video posted on his YouTube channel on 28th Oct 2020. He said, “We have initiated action against the YouTubers.”