Kozhikode: Keralite YouTuber Manaf is likely to appear before Karnataka police on Monday for questioning over the Dharmasthala mass burial case. This follows a notice to him by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case.Following revelations by Chinnaiah that over a hundred bodies were buried in Dharmasthala, Manaf uploaded several related videos on YouTube. Manaf became popular after the death of truck driver Arjun, who lost his life in the Shirur landslide in July last year. Manaf, being the owner of the truck, had stayed back in Shirur for many days to locate Arjun, whose body was recovered from Gangavali river after 72 days.Manaf reportedly met several persons who raised the allegations in Dharmasthala. The investigation team has summoned him to seek more details on the same.Manaf told reporters that he has sought police protection as he was facing threats, and he would be appearing before Karnataka police on Monday. He said that another case was registered against him in Udupi under Section 299 (acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any class) of BNS. He said he would fully cooperate with the investigation and hand over whatever evidence he possessed to SIT.The questioning is reportedly based on information obtained from Chinnaiah and also about the videos.Earlier, Arjun’s family had raised allegations against Manaf, claiming he was exploiting their sentiments. The family alleged that he started a YouTube channel and began posting videos of the search, using the situation to gain subscribers. Manaf rejected the allegations, saying he started the channel so people could see his efforts to find Arjun.
