Kalamassery police launch probe into complaint against YouTuber ‘Thoppi’

Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. After the Kochi City cyber police, the Kalamassery police have launched a preliminary investigation into a complaint against YouTuber Mohammed Nihad, known as ‘Thoppi’, and his former associates. As part of the first-level probe, the Kalamassery police have recorded the statement of lawyer Sreejith Perumana who filed the complaint with the State Police Chief based on allegations reportedly levelled by members of a group led by Thoppi against each other after they parted ways recently. Sources with the police said they were examining the videos streamed by Thoppi and his team as part of verifying the complaint. The city cyber police had recently carried out a similar exercise and in turn forwarded the complaint to their Kalamassery counterparts. A decision on whether to register a case on the complaint will depend on the outcome of the verification. “The complaint was forwarded to us as Thoppi and his team had stayed in a rented facility under the Kalamassery police station limits for a few months between 2024 and 2025. However, we are yet to verify if the alleged offences took place during that period. It is suspected that the livestreaming featuring the alleged offensive contents was done from a residence within the Ernakulam Rural police limits,” an officer said. The complaint mentioning alleged offences, including sexual abuse of minors, drug use, and obscenity, was forwarded to the Kochi City cyber police by the State cyber operations wing for further action. Hailing from Mangad in Kannur, Thoppi has a huge fan following, mostly teenagers, on streaming platforms. He gained notoriety for his unpremeditated retorts and use of indecent language. Thoppi was arrested by the Valanchery police in June 2023 for allegedly causing a traffic block and use of abusive language in public. Soon after, the Kannapuram police in Kannur had booked him for circulating a video with obscene conversations. In April 2025, he was taken into police custody for allegedly threatening a private bus