Influencer Diya Krishna faces potential legal notice for allegedly endorsing ‘divisive’ Instagram post

Social media influencer and entrepreneur Diya Krishna, who has come under intense bipartisan criticism for allegedly endorsing an Islamophobic and communally schismatic video posted by North Indian vlogger Amrit Singh Darren on his Instagram handle, “littichokha_up_”, appeared to face potential legal jeopardy on Sunday (October 25, 2026).

Highly placed police sources privy to the unfolding investigation against Mr. Darren told The Hindu that investigators were weighing whether to issue a notice to Ms. Krishna, daughter of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and chairperson of the National Film Development Corporation of India, G. Krishnakumar, in connection with the hate speech incident that precipitated public outrage in Keralam.

Also Read | Kerala Police book social media influencer Darren for ‘communally divisive hate speech’ on Instagram

Officials said investigators would verify whether Ms. Diya had merely liked Mr. Darren’s post, which is not an offence, or crossed a legal line by commenting, sharing, advocating, or promoting the contentious Instagram post that risked creating communal tensions in Keralam.

Investigators said the law criminalises electronic communication that promotes divisive content as a non-bailable offence, punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment. They said the investigation would extend to other persons who shared and disseminated the questionable video.

Notably, the State Committee of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the Muslim Youth League (MYL), and Congress Digital Media Cell Coordinator Tara Tojo Alex have demanded that the police bring Ms. Krishna within the scope of the ongoing investigation into Mr. Darren.

Ms. Krishnan has said on her Instagram handle that she erred in jumping the gun and commenting “sad reality” below Mr. Darren’s controversial post without watching the controversial Instagram video in full. She said she did not intend to create enmity between communities.

In the first part of the video, Mr. Darren criticised a restaurant in Fort Kochi, Kashi Art Cafe, for displaying wall art juxtaposing the silver-coated visages of Mahatma Gandhi with Pakistan’s founder and first Prime Minister, Muhammad Ali Jinna, and said the display affronted national pride.

Ms. Diya stated on her Instagram handle on Saturday (October 24, 2026) that she was oblivious to the latter part of Mr. Darren’s post.

Mr. Darren had slammed the restaurant for serving beef despite borrowing the name of one of India’s ancient cities holy to Hindus, Kashi. He raised the spectre of “unchecked rise of radical Islam” in Keralam with the help of “Arab funding”, even as the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government watched mutely.

Officials said Inspector General of Police P. Prakash, head of the State Crime Records Bureau, would monitor the digital forensic collection and analysis, including details of the device used for the offence and timestamps relevant to the offence.

They said police would also approach Meta, the parent company that owns Instagram, for access to Mr. Darren’s account to obtain login details and recover potentially incriminating deleted content, if any.

Investigators said the police would seek the help of their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh to locate Mr. Darren’s address to issue a notice for appearance for questioning and might even form a plainclothes squad to locate and secure the accused’s custody, in the event of non-cooperation.