MUMBAI: In the hope that raking up the cow skin issue would bring him international publicity, Barun Kashyap, a creative director with a production house, filed a “false complaint“ that he was harassed by gau rakshaks while travelling with a leather bag this August, say city police.Amboli police on Saturday registered an FIR against Kashyap for giving false and misleading information and creating a rift between communities. Police are yet to arrest Kashyap, who has been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 153A for promoting enmity between groups and 182(B) for use of lawful power of a public servant to injure or annoy any person.Sources said an offence was registered against Kashyap after he reportedly admitted to having lied during interrogation.However, when TOI contacted him on Saturday , Kashyap denied having admitted anything to the police and said he stands by his version. “I'm not aware of all this. Nothing has been communicated to me and I stand by my complaint. Or else, I would have withdrawn it,“ he said.Kashyap's August 19 Facebook post and tweets on his “ordeal“ created a huge uproar among activists and members of the film industry who said such bullying had no place in the city . Kashyap, who lives opposite Infinity Mall in Andheri, told cops that on that fateful day, he left home for his office at11am in an autorickshaw. At a signal, the driver pointed out to Kashyap that his leather bag was stinking and asked whether it was made of cowskin, to which he replied that it was made of camelskin. The driver stopped the vehicle at a certain point and returned with three men who allegedly pushed him and asked for his name. When they learnt that he was a Hindu, they let him go with a warning: “Aaj toh bach gaye (you were saved today).“ A “traumatized“ Kashyap approached D N Nagar police.Top police officials and even Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took cognizance of the issue and strongly said the culprits should be arrested.Joint commissioner of police (law and order) Deven Bharti asked deputy commissioner of police (Zone IX) Satyanarayan Choudhary to form a special team to probe the allegation. A team comprising assistant commissioner Arun Chavan, inspector Bharat Gaikwad, assistant police inspector Daya Nay ak and staff carried out a thorough investigation and found discrepancies in Kashyap's statement. “We studied the CCTV footage of the route right from Kashyap's building to his office and questioned around 180 auto drivers in Oshiwara, Andheri, Jogeshwari and Versova as per the description provided by Kashyap. But we did not find the auto, as the number given was incomplete and the sketch prepared did not match any driver.“Kashyap had stated that he engaged the auto at11am opposite his building. But cops said the CCTV footage of his building showed that he hailed one from his building's side, at 1pm. Police went through the CCTV footage at the signal and other junctions and found he had not taken the route mentioned in the complaint. Cops said his cellphone location, too, did not match the route. “When nothing matched, we took the 66th metropolitan magistrate's permission and summoned Kashyap.When we zeored in on the discrepancies, he broke down and admitted to having lied to gain popularity ,“ said an official.