CHANDIGARH, June 29: A self-styled RTI activist and a YouTuber have been arrested for allegedly extorting money from the chairman of a private school by misusing the Right to Information (RTI) Act, Chandigarh Police said on Saturday.
The accused—identified as Sukhbir Tanwar and MK Maurya—were taken into custody on Friday and produced before a city court, which remanded them to judicial custody. An FIR has been registered at the Sector 37 police station on the basis of a complaint filed by Pradeep Kaushik, chairman of GAV International School.
According to Kaushik’s complaint, Tanwar began targeting the school in October 2022 by filing an RTI application with the education department. Using the information obtained, he allegedly filed a court case against the school and began pressuring Kaushik to settle.
Kaushik claimed that Tanwar demanded ₹10 lakh to withdraw the case and that he eventually paid ₹2.5 lakh in cash to him on December 5, 2024, at the court premises in a bid to protect the school’s reputation. The case was withdrawn on April 8, 2025, but the alleged extortion did not stop.
“Just a week after withdrawing the case, on April 15, Tanwar started filing fresh RTIs in other departments, including the income tax department,” Kaushik said in his statement. He further alleged that the pressure campaign escalated when Tanwar, now aided by YouTuber MK Maurya, demanded another ₹5 lakh.
Kaushik told police that he met both accused on May 8 at the school premises in Sector 37 and paid them ₹25,000 as part of the new demand. The meeting, he said, was captured on CCTV, and the footage was later submitted to the police as evidence.
Following the complaint and initial inquiry, both Tanwar and Maurya were arrested. “The accused were produced in court and sent to jail. A detailed investigation is underway,” said a senior police official, adding that more evidence is being gathered to establish the full extent of the alleged extortion scheme.
Police sources said the case could widen if more victims come forward. Meanwhile, officials are examining whether the accused have misused the RTI mechanism in other instances.
