The Avadi police have on Monday - May 30 arrested popular Tamil YouTuber Karthik Gopinath on the grounds of cheating and embezzling lakhs of money that he bagged for the development of temples. The arrest was made after the concerned temple had filed a complaint against him with the Avadi police.

According to reports, Karthik Gopinath has been considered a strong supporter of right-wing and Hindutva ideology. He is a popular face among the Hindutva followers and he has been accused of cheating to the tune of over Rs 40 lakh. He is running a studio in Mittanamalli near Avadi in the Tiruvallur district. It has been alleged that he had been involved in collecting money from the people on the grounds of developing the temples in the state. 

Our sources say that the YouTuber had bagged lakhs of money by claiming that he was on a mission to renovate a temple in Siruvachur in the Perambalur district and Goddess Kaliamman temple in Madurai. Of these two, the Kaliamman temple in Madurai comes under the control of the Tamil Nadu government's Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department.

Earlier, the Kaliamman temple board had asked Karthick to provide the money that he got to the temple. The former had also sent a notice to the latter, urging him to surrender the collected money to the temple. However, Karthick had failed to hand over the money to the temple after which the temple management had filed a complaint to the crime branch in Avadi. 

Based on the complaint, the police had filed a case against Karthick and arrested him. During the inquiry, the police have found out that Karthick has collected the money through his bank account in Avadi. After taking the YouTuber into custody, the police have launched an extensive investigation into the allegations against Karthick Gopinath.