In a major development, a Haryana-based YouTuber Bobby Kataria was arrested on Monday over charges of cyber fraud. In desi terms, Bobby Kataria has been accused of 'Kabutar Baji'. 'Kabutar Baji' is a famous Hindi term used for immigration agents who send people abroad illegally or promise to send them somewhere by taking money and sending them somewhere else. YouTuber Bobby Kataria is accused of taking lakhs of rupees from two youths of Uttar Pradesh origin, and sending them abroad where they were taken hostage by a Chinese company. The two UP youths were allegedly forced to commit cyber fraud on Americans.
There they were beaten, their passports were snatched and they were forced to commit cyber fraud with American people. Somehow the youth escaped from there taking advantage of the opportunity and came back to India after reaching the Indian Embassy. The victim youth alleged that about 150 Indians were brought to the company where they were held hostage in a similar manner through human trafficking. Women are also included among them, who have been sent into human trafficking by brokers like Bobby Kataria on the pretext of jobs.
Who is Bobby Kataria?
Going by his social media profile, Bobby Kataria hails from Gurugram, Haryana. His LinkedIn bio says, "Bobby competes Socially as a Male bodybuilder and an All-Time Events and State Record holding powerlifter. he is now accepting new clients for the purpose of developing a custom fit nutrition and/or workout plan based on your personal fitness or competition goals. Bobby also makes promotional appearances, considers all marketing opportunities in a variety of businesses, Social Service, Event, Promotional Activity and/or product lines and making guest speaking appearances for TV, radio shows and interest groups or organizations. Bobby is very much active to support to facilities and services such as: public education, welfare, infrastructure, mail, libraries, social work, food banks, universal health care, fire services, public transportation and public housing."
Bobby is a law graduate and he also studied in Meenakshi Public School. As of now (while writing) Bobby Kataria's Instagram profile has been deleted. Also, Bobby Kataria's YouTube channel is not present at the video streaming website.
Accusations against Bobby Kataria
In the complaint given to Bajgheda police station, Arun Kumar, a resident of Fatehpur, UP, and Manish Tomar, a resident of Hapur, said that they were unemployed. They were in touch with YouTuber Bobby Kataria on Instagram at their respective levels. He saw an advertisement for a job abroad on Bobby's YouTube channel MBK. After this he contacted Bobby.
The victims said that Bobby called them to his office in Sector 109 on the pretext of getting them a job abroad. He told them to meet at Constant One Mall. The victims told that Arun Kumar met Bobby Kataria in his office on 1 February 2024. He got himself registered for Rs 2,000.
After this, on Bobby's request, on February 13, Rs 50,000 was transferred to his office account MBK Global Visa Private Limited. Then, on the request of Kataria, on March 14, another Rs 1 lakh was transferred to the account of a person named Ankit Shaukeen. Bobby sent the ticket to Vientiane (Laos) through Shaukeen's WhatsApp.
After this, on March 28, as per Bobby's advice, he got Rs 50,000 changed into US dollars at the airport and boarded the flight. Similarly, lakhs of rupees were taken from his friend Manish Tomar in the name of sending him to Singapore, but he was also sent on a flight to Vientiane.
When both of them landed at the airport, they met a young man named Abhi. He introduced himself as Bobby's friend and Pakistani agent. He dropped them off at Hotel Mican San. The next day, Abhi got him a ticket for the Navatui train and made him sit on the train.
From Navatui station, Abhi took him to Golden Triangle by taxi, where he met young men named Ankit Shaukeen and Nitish Sharma alias Rocky. They took him to an anonymous Chinese company. There both the friends were severely beaten and their passports were snatched away. They were forced to commit cyber fraud with the American people.
Both were threatened that if the work was not done as per their wish then they would not be able to reach India and would be killed there. About 150 Indians were brought to that company through human trafficking. However, somehow the youth ran away from there.