‘RTI activist’, YouTuber held for ‘extortion’ in Gurugram

The Gurugram police on Friday arrested an ‘RTI activist’ and a YouTuber for allegedly extorting a private school operator by blackmailing him.

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Both the accused were produced before a city court and sent to judicial custody. According to the police, the accused have been identified as ‘RTI activist’ Sukhbir Tanwar and YouTuber MK Maurya.

An FIR has been registered against them at the Sector 37 police station in this regard.

According to a complaint filed by Pradeep Kaushik, the chairman of GAV International School, in October 2022, Tanwar had filed an RTI with the Education Department “against” his school. He alleged that, through the RTI, Tanwar was blackmailing him as Tanwar had filed a case in this regard and demanded Rs 10 lakh to withdraw it. Kaushik claimed that he gave the accused Rs 2.5 lakh at a court on December 5, 2024, to save his school’s image.

After this, Tanwar withdrew the case on April 8, 2025.

On April 15, 2025, another RTI was filed “against” his school with several departments, including the I-T Department, he alleged, adding that, this time, Tanwar demanded Rs 5 lakh.

“Tanwar and Maurya were blackmailing me. On May 8, I called them to my school and gave them Rs 25,000, and said I would pay the remaining amount later. The incident was captured on CCTV cameras. After this, I lodged a complaint with police on the basis of the CCTV footage”, Kaushik said in his complaint.