Nellore: YouTuber Bachalakuri Joseph alias Raavan has been booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and other sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) by the Andhra Pradesh police for allegedly uploading a video in support of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
He was arrested on Sunday and sent to the Nellore central prison on Monday, hours after a local court in Gannavaram remanded him to 14-day judicial custody.
Raavan runs the YouTube channel “Prashna”.
“He was produced before the additional junior civil judge court in Gannavaram on Sunday evening. After arguments continued until around 10pm, the court remanded him to judicial custody until July 18,” Hindustan Times has quoted a senior police official as saying.
“The case was registered following a complaint lodged by Garikapati Siva Sankar, a Jana Sena Party leader from Gannavaram and director of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Development Corporation,” the official said.
It was alleged by Sankar that Raavan uploaded a video on November 25, 2025, praising the CPI (Maoist), propagating its ideology among public and expressing support for armed revolution.
Raavan expressed support for Maoist leader Hidma and widely circulated the video through social media platforms, he further alleged. The complaint claimed that such content could influence young people toward extremist ideology, the official said.
The police have invoked multiple provisions of the BNS, including sections 147 (waging or attempting to wage war against the Government of India), 148 (conspiracy to wage war), 152 (acts allegedly endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India), 192 (provocation and inflammatory speeches intended to incite violence), 197(1)(d) (using electronic or public platforms to disseminate content prejudicial to national integrity), and 353(1)(2) (promoting enmity, hatred and panic among different sections of society by spreading rumours or false information).
In addition to these, the police invoked UAPA sections 13 and 39, alleging unlawful activities affecting India’s sovereignty and providing support to a banned terrorist organisation.
The YouTuber’s wife Anusha, however, claimed that the police have falsely implicated her husband in the case.
She demanded that cases of this nature should first be filed against Jana Sena Party leaders, including deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan, who she alleged had made provocative statements. She also appealed to chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and said if the intention was to eliminate Raavan, the entire family should be “killed at once”.
