CHENNAI: A female video jockey, a cameraperson, and a YouTube channel owner, all in their early 20s, were arrested by the city police for pushing a college graduate to attempt to kill herself by airing her interview, despite her requesting them to not do so.
Police said that the victim had consumed biscuits laced with rat poison and fallen unconscious. She was rushed to the Kilpauk Medical College Hospital (KMCH), where she is now said to be in a stable condition.
The arrested are identified as R Swetha (23), the video jockey, S Yogaraj (21), and S Ram (21). They run a YouTube channel titled “Veera Talks Double X.”
Police said that the channel airs videos of interviews with youths where they are asked innuendo-laden questions.
The victim who attempted to die by suicide is a college graduate and had visited a mall in Thirumangalam where she had given a byte to the YouTube channel about seven months ago.
She had initially refused to give a byte but the VJ and cameraperson convinced her, saying that the interview would not be aired and that it was just for fun, a police investigation revealed. The victim had lost both her parents when she was young and was raised by her relatives, the police added.
Last week, the victim learnt from her friends that her interview had been uploaded on the YouTube channel recently, and there were several abusive comments directed at her. Then the video clip was shared on Instagram on Monday, which further attracted more abusive comments.
Depressed over this, the woman consumed rat poison-laced biscuits and attempted to die by suicide.
Kilpauk Police registered a case and arrested the trio on Tuesday.