Who is Bobby Kataria, social media influencer arrested for human trafficking

Controversial social media influencer, Balwant Kataria aka Bobby, is in the news again, now for alleged human trafficking.

The 38-year-old, notorious for having frequent brushes with the law, was arrested on Monday (May 27) after two men lodged a complaint against him with Gurugram police. They alleged that Kataria had defrauded them of more than ₹4 lakh in the guise of getting them employed abroad.

Who is Bobby Kataria?

A resident of Gurugram, Kataria is a social media influencer with over 3 lakh followers on Instagram. Both his accounts on Instagram and YouTube have been disabled after his arrest.

Kataria, who originally hails from Basai village in Haryana, claims to be a professional bodybuilder and a state-record holder in powerlifting on his social media profiles. He is often seen sharing fitness and nutrition tips with followers on his social media handles.

He is also the founder of Yuva Ekta Foundation, a Gurugram-based NGO.

Known for posting content promoting gun and gang culture on his social media pages, Kataria has courted several controversies and has been arrested at least twice in the past few years over his conduct in public.

In 2022, he was arrested by Delhi Police for smoking inside an aeroplane. The same year, a Dehradun court issued a non-bailable warrant against him after he had shared a video in which he was seen drinking in public and blocking a road.

The same year, Gurugram Police filed an FIR against the bodybuilder for thrashing a woman, posting vulgar messages about her on social media and giving her death threats.

He was also arrested in Gurugram for misbehaving with police personnel.

What is the case against him now?

Two men, both residents of Uttar Pradesh, told Gurugram police that Kataria had promised to help them find jobs in the UAE and Singapore and had taken ₹4 lakh from them for the same. However, he had sent them to an Asian country where they were forced to work in a fake call centre and asked to scam Americans.

According to the complainants – Arun Kumar, a native of Fatehpur, and Manish Tomar, a resident of Dholana in Uttar Pradesh – they came across an advertisement on Instagram offering an opportunity to work abroad.

The ad was posted from the official Instagram ID and YouTube channel of Kataria.

Upon contacting the influencer, they were asked to meet him in his office at a Gurugram mall.

“I met Bobby Kataria on February 1 in his office and he gave me assurance of getting a job in the UAE after taking ₹2,000 as a registration charge. I then transferred ₹1.5 lakh to his account and got a ticket for Vientiane (capital of Laos),” Kumar told police.

"Similarly, my friend Manish Tomar was also assured of getting a job in Singapore. Kataria charged ₹2.59 lakh from Tomar and he too got a ticket to Vientiane and boarded the flight on March 28," Kumar said.

He said when they landed at the airport in Vientiane, they were received by a person named Abhi who introduced himself as a friend of Kataria. “A Pakistani man then dropped us at a hotel,” he said.

Kumar said the next day they were taken to an anonymous Chinese company where they were beaten up and their passports were taken away.

“We were forced to commit cyber fraud targeting US citizens. Around 150 Indians, including women, had been brought there through human trafficking and were being held hostage,” he said.

"On the third day, we managed to escape and approached the Indian Embassy. After returning, we asked Kataria to return our money, but he refused," the complainant said.

Following the complaint, an FIR was registered against Kataria and others under Sections 323 (causing hurt), 342 (wrongful confinement), 506 (criminal intimidation), 420 (cheating), 364 (abduction), 370 (buying and disposing of any person as a slave), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and section 10/24 of the Immigration Act.

Kataria was arrested from his Gurugram office on Monday.