TikTok Star Shahrukh Turns Gangster To Fund Video-Making Obsession

A young man with huge TikTok following was arrested from Greater Noida’s Alpha-II for allegedly snatching mobile phones. The accused has been identified as one Shahrukh. He used to work in Saudi Arabia and was on holiday in India at the time of arrest. Shahrukh has around 42,000 followers on TikTok. He had formed a gang of five that used to snatch mobile phones from people. "The leader of the gang, Shahrukh is quite popular on the social media video-sharing app TikTok for his dance moves and he has more than 40,000 followers," Ranvijay Singh, Superintendent of Police (SP), was quoted as saying.

The gang led by Shahrukh reportedly confessed their role in various robbery cases in the area. From Bisrakh to Surjapur, the gang used to target commuters. A case has been registered and further investigation in the matter is underway. Shahrukh used to shoot his videos to get maximum likes. He told police that he used to steal phones to fund his TikTok videos. He had shot the videos in picturesque locations in Dubai as well as India. The police recovered five phones from the gang. A bike used in the robberies have also been recovered.

TikTok, which has 200 million users in India, was hitting headlines in April this year, when the Madurai bench of Madras High Court had directed the government to ban the mobile application, as it voiced concerns over the "pornographic and inappropriate contents" being made available through such apps. However, the ban was lifted by the Madras High Court three weeks later.

The mobile application, which was launched in early 2019, is a social video app owned by China's Beijing ByteDance Co. It reached the one billion download mark in February. It is a popular app worldwide and was the fourth most downloaded non-game app in 2018.

Recently, a young lady constable was suspended for making a TikTok dance video inside a police station in Gujarat’s Mehsana. The officials said that the lady cop identified as one Arpita Chaudhary was suspended for ‘violating rules.’

HIGHLIGHTS

• The TikTok ‘star’ had shot his videos in picturesque locations of Dubai.
• Police recovered 5 phones from gang that used to target commuters.  
• Shahrukh is popular on TikTok and has more than 40,000 followers.