Back in October, Kanti Prasad was thronged by foodies at his tiny food stall Baba ka Dhaba, a little blue box in Malviya Nagar in south Delhi that was forlorn and empty for the last six months.
Their despair came to light when Instagram influencer Gaurav Wasan captured Prasad breaking down as he talked about his struggles in a video shared on his social media account.
Overnight, the post spiralled into a movement to help the elderly couple, whose plight struck a chord of empathy in distant corners of the country.
Now, according to a report by NDTV, the 80-year-old has filed a complaint against Wasan for “misappropriation of funds.”
In his complaint, Prasad alleged that Wasan collected huge amount of donation via different forms of payment by “intentionally and deliberately” sharing only his and his family/friends' account details, contact info with the donors.
Prasad also accused the influencer of not providing details of the financial transactions.
Police official Atul Kumar Thakur told the portal that the matter is being probed, however no FIR has been registered yet.
This comes after a a Twitter user Madhur aka @ThePlacardGuy made some serious allegations against Wasan. He wrote, “Baba ka Dhaba is closed today because: 1) His eyes got operated yesterday. 2) The volunteers who used to work at Baba ka Dhaba have been threatened by Gaurav and his brother Karan that "roz yahin aaoge na, dikhata hoon tumhe kya cheez hoon main". Second reason is major reason.”
Meanwhile, other Twitter users questioned Wasan on the donations he received in the name of Baba Ka Dhaba.
Wasan, who posted the video through his Instagram handle @youtubeswadofficial, had said he is always on the lookout for lesser known food joints around the city but never did he imagine his post would lead to so much traction.
“I am so glad I decided to take the first step to help them. I realised that they made good food…the only thing missing was marketing, and I thought I could use my followers to do that.
“With the kind of support this has created, I will continue to focus on other food joints which need help in this time,” Wasan added.
Everything changed for Kanti Prasad and his family that was on the brink of penury. Social media spun its magic with a video of Prasad tearfully recounting the desperation of the months since the lockdown being shared widely across platforms – and, hey presto, customers made a beeline to eat his food as did camera crews, bloggers and journalists.
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