Fact-Check: UP Cop Caught For Supplying Illegal Weapons? No, Claim is False!

The police officer was caught taking a bribe and not with weapons.

Fact-Check: The police officer was caught accepting a bribe. 

(Source: The Quint) 

A video showing some people dragging a police officer on the road is being shared that one Muslim police official called Shahnawaz Khan from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh was 'caught' with illegal weapons and money.

• The claim also read that Khan was caught while distributing the alleged guns and pistols to his friends.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: X/Screenshot) 

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is this true?: No, this claim is false.

• The officer was caught taking a bribe and not as claimed in the viral posts. News reports and UP police officials confirmed the same.

What we found: We divided the video into multiple screenshots and ran a Google reverse image search on some of them.

• We came across the same video on NDTV's YouTube channel which was uploaded on 10 September.

• The video's title stated, "Kanpur News | Head Constable Gets Arrested Over Corruption Charges In Kanpur"

• We then ran a relevant keyword search and came across a report by the NavBharat Times (NBT) which had more information about this case.

• The report stated that the police vigilance team had arrested Khan for accepting a bribe of Rs 15,000 from a disabled man.

• The officer demanded the bribe in exchange of filing a chargesheet for the man.

• The man then filed a complaint about this to the vigilance team. They, in turn, devised a strategy to catch the policeman in the act.

• Similarly, Amar Ujala and Dainik Bhaskar also reported on this case.

UP Police comments: Sources in the UP police told The Quint that the claim was false and the officer was caught taking a bribe. They dismissed the viral claim.

Conclusion: A false claim went viral that a police officer from Kanpur named Shahnawaz Khan was caught while handing out illegal weapons to his friends.

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