Lucknow, Aug 23 : An FIR has been lodged against journalist Abhishek Upadhyay in Ghaziabad over an alleged road-rage incident, which he has claimed was “planted” in connection with his reporting on alleged corruption in Uttar Pradesh, according to a social media post by the journalist.
Upadhyay, who runs the YouTube channel ‘Top Secret’, said a police team reached his residence late on August 20 and told him that a case had been registered at the Indirapuram police station following allegations of road rage and abusive behaviour.
According to Upadhyay’s account, the alleged incident took place on August 18 near Shipra Mall when a motorcyclist allegedly touched his car. He said the man subsequently called the police emergency helpline 112 and an FIR was registered later.
Upadhyay alleged that the police team had come to his residence possibly to arrest him and challenged Ghaziabad Police to release CCTV footage of the alleged incident.
He claimed that the incident had been “planted” and linked the FIR to his reporting on alleged corruption in Uttar Pradesh.
Upadhyay has previously reported on alleged irregularities involving donations to the Ram temple in Ayodhya and alleged corruption in the Uttar Pradesh government.
He also claimed that his car had been taken away. He said the vehicle was gifted to him by a channel he had worked for his coverage of the Ukraine war.
Upadhyay said he was not given a copy of the FIR by the police. He also posted 10 of his top stories alleging corruption in various UP departments that he had published on his YouTube channel.
Political leaders, including AAP MP Sanjay Singh, Samajwadi Party leader and former minister Pawan Pandey, and Congress national spokesperson Priyanka Bharti, expressed support for Upadhyay in posts on X.
Police have not issued any statement on the matter so far.
