Kanta Prasad, the owner of popular eatery “Baba Ka Dhaba” in south Delhi’s Malviya Nagar, has filed a complaint against Instagram influencer Gaurav Wasan for misappropriation of funds, police said .

Mr Prasad, 80, had shot to fame after a video of him tearfully recounting the desperation of the months since the lockdown was shared widely across social media platforms recently.

Ironically, Mr Prasad’s despair had come to light when Gaurav Wasan captured the eatery owner breaking down as he talked about his struggles in a video shared on the YouTuber’s social media account.

In his complaint to police, Mr Prasad said Gaurav Wasan shot his video and posted it online, asking the public on social media to donate money to the eatery owner.

He further alleged that Wasan “intentionally and deliberately shared only his and his family/friends bank details and mobile numbers with the donors and collected huge amount of donation through different mode of payments i.e bank account/wallets without providing any information to the complainant.”

The owner of the food joint also accused the YouTuber of not providing details of the financial transactions to him.

“We received the complaint yesterday at the Malviya Nagar Police Station and the matter is being probed. No FIR (First Information Report) has been registered yet in the case,” police official Atul Kumar Thakur said.

After the video went viral, Baba ka Dhaba got support from many people across the country, including celebrities who posted appeals asking people to go there and get themselves a meal.

A day after the heartbreaking video was shared on social media, #Babakadhaba was trending on Twitter and the food joint was flooded with more customers than it had seen in 30 years of being in business.