Old Clip of Police Apprehending Bootleggers in AP Viral With False Communal Spin

We found that the video is from August 2020, when Kurnool police caught some people while transporting alcohol.

Fact-Check | The video is old and is being shared with a false communal spin.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video that shows police personnel apprehending a burqa-clad person who is later revealed to be a man is going viral on social media platforms as an incident from Karnataka.

What are users claiming?: Those sharing the video claimed that these people were held for pelting stones at the police and plotting to defame the Muslim community.

The claims were also shared with a hashtag on the 2023 Karnataka Assembly Election that was concluded recently.

An archive of the post can be seen here.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

(More archives to similar claims can be found here, here, and here.)

What is the truth?: The video dates back to August 2020, and the incident is from Andhra Pradesh's Kurnool.

• It shows Kurnool Police catching several men trying to transport liquors by wearing burqas.

How did we find out?: Using InVID, a video verification tool, we divided the video into several keyframes and performed a reverse image search on them.

• This led us to the same video on Facebook uploaded in August 2020 which identified the location as Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh.

• On performing a keyword search, we then came across a video uploaded on 7 August 2020 on the official YouTube channel of ETV Andhra Pradesh.

• The video was titled, "Several Arrested | for Transfer Illegal Liquor with Wearing Burqa | at Kurnool Dist (sic)."

• It further mentioned that the pillion rider was wearing a burqa. The police found several liquor bottles after they inspected the bags of the accused.

• The Quint had reached out to the Kurnool Superintendent of Police (SP) who corroborated the case details.

A second wind?: The Quint had fact-checked the same video in 2020 when it was shared with a claim stating that a man from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was caught waving the Pakistani flag.

Conclusion: The video shows Kurnool police apprehending men transporting liquor and is being shared with a false communal angle.

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