Kerala youth says wrongly ridiculed on social media

A Kerala youth, who faced severe flak on social media for taking an alleged free helicopter ride from a flood hit area to the state capital, on Wednesday said he was being ridiculed for no fault of his.

An audio clip has made rounds on social media since the past two days about Jobi taking a free ride on a helicopter from Aranmula in Pathanamthitta to the state capital on the pretext of wanting to buy insulin for his family. 

On Tuesday, Jobi's friends made a plea not to ridicule him since he is emotionally and mentally disturbed as he himself was a victim of the floods.

Speaking in a video on Wednesday, Jobi said he was deeply upset about the misinformation being bandied about, about him.

"Me and my friend were engaged in rescue operations here the entire day. When we were going back, a helicopter crew asked us if we were locals and where we were headed. 

"Believing the crew wanting to know about the locality, I entered the helicopter but my friend didn't. Only when I was dropped in Trivandrum, I realised that everything had gone haywire. The insulin story is false. Please do not ridicule me, I have done no wrong," Jobi pleaded. - IANS