Food stall owner files complaint against blogger who made his business famous

A food stall owner in Delhi, India has filed complaints against a blogger who helped him tide over his suffering business during the pandemic. Gaurav Wasan featured Kanta Prasad in his vlog last October, as he showed the stall owner in tears over the lack of customers at his stall. The video went viral with his viewers responding to Wasan's plea for donations to help Prasad's business survive.

People including celebrities were moved by his video, which aside from the donations that were sent, had customer flocking to Prasad's food stall called Baba Ka Dhaba. The food stall serves fresh, home-cooked meals such as parathas, curry gravy, rice and dal. His meals sell for less than 50 rupees (£0.50).

Wasan's story and the elderly man's food business became famous overnight. However, what started as a classic social media campaign to help a fellow human being in dire straits, has turned into sour accusations against Wasan.

Prasad has now accused Wasan of misappropriating donated funds. The elderly stall owner accused Wasan of deliberately sharing his own account details and collecting donations in Prasad's name. He claimed that he had only received 200,000 rupees (£ 2,083 ) from Wasan, knowing the donated sum was much higher.

Meanwhile, the blogger said he had already transferred all the money he received to Prasad adding that the allegations were baseless.

"When I shot the video of Baba Ka Dhaba, I did not imagine it would get the kind of reception it got. I asked people to transfer money to my account for just one day."

In a video he posted on his YouTube channel, Wasan said donations started to come through to his account on October 7. But on October 8, Wasan and Prasad shot a video were the two asked people to stop donations as they have received enough funds

According to the BBC, police say they have started an investigation but have not yet filed any charges against Wasan.

"I was trying to protect the guy, I told him we will raise some money for you - he did not ask me to mention his bank account. If he would have asked me to use his bank details, I would have," Wasan said.

Since Wasan's viral video, food delivery giant Zomato tweeted that they have now listed Baba ka Dhaba on their app.