Who is Bobby Kataria, Gurugram influencer arrested for human trafficking?

Social media influencer Balwant Kataria alias Bobby Kataria was arrested on Monday in a human trafficking case, police said. Kataria was allegedly involved in the trafficking of two men from Uttar Pradesh. The two men contacted the Gurugram police, claiming that Kataria had defrauded them of over Rs 4 lakh on the pretext of getting them a job abroad.

According to the complaint filed by Arun Kumar, a native of Fatehpur, and Manish Tomar, a resident of Dholana in Uttar Pradesh, they came across an advertisement on Instagram offering an opportunity to work abroad. The announcement was posted from Kataria's official Instagram handle and YouTube channel.

Kumar and Tomar claim that Kataria had promised them jobs in the UAE and Singapore respectively. Instead, they were taken to Vientiane, the capital of Laos, and forced to work in an illegal call center. The two men also claim they were beaten upon arrival in Vientiane and had their passports confiscated.

Bobby Kataria, the man at the center of this human trafficking case, allegedly took Rs 4 lakh from the two men from Uttar Pradesh on the pretext of sending them abroad. Here's what we know about Kataria:

Bobby Kataria (real name Balwant Kataria) is a Gurugram-based social media influencer and content creator. He has over 3 lakh followers on Instagram, although his account is currently deactivated.

On his LinkedIn account, Haryana-based Kataria describes himself as a bodybuilder who holds the state record in powerlifting. It also creates personalized nutrition and workout plans for clients, according to LinkedIn.

In February 2023, it launched a consultancy service to provide employment to people seeking opportunities abroad.

This is not his first run-in with the law: in 2022, Kataria was arrested by Delhi police for smoking inside an airplane while a Dehradun court issued an arrest warrant without bail against him the same year after sharing a video in which he was seen drinking in public and blocking a road.

An FIR was registered against Kataria by the Gurugram police for beating a woman, posting vulgar messages about her on social media and issuing death threats to her in 2022.

(With inputs from PTI)