Messages alerting citizens about the presence of terrorists in their city or their area are the most common around Independence Day. Over the years, many posts, videos and messages pertaining to arrests made by police, about Delhi being on high alert, have gone viral on various social media platforms.
CLAIM
Another such message is now being circulated on WhatsApp and Facebook alleging that the Amravati police caught terrorists near the Ambadevi Temple in Maharashtra’s Amravati.
The message is accompanied by a video, which has also been shared on YouTube.
The Quint received a message about the same on its WhatsApp helpline number.
TRUE OR FALSE?
While the video is absolutely true, the claim with which it is being shared has no truth to it. The Quint got in touch with the Amravati police and they confirmed to us that the video was shot during a mock drill and it doesn’t show the police arresting terrorists.
Police Sub Inspector Mundhe verified the video and said, “The video shows a mock drill by the Amravati city police near Ambadevi temple.”
However he couldn’t remember the date when the drill was held, but added that it could be last Monday (22 July).
Earlier Hoaxes Related to Terror Attacks
1. ADVISORY IN THE NAME OF DELHI POLICE ON POSSIBLE TERROR ATTACK
In January earlier this year, a message had gone viral on social media claiming that all “officers have been requested to inform their family and loved ones to avoid Chandni Chowk and other crowded areas in Delhi and Bangalore” as two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) groups have reached Delhi and “are planning on carrying out two suicide attacks”.
But The Quint got in touch with DCP New Delhi IPS Madhur Verma who acknowledged that the message has been doing rounds on WhatsApp and clarified, “Delhi Police has not issued any such notice.”
The message was circulated around Republic Day.
2. VIDEO OF POLICE NABBING “TERRORISTS” IN JAIPUR
A video of a man lying on the ground tied-up, after presumably being nabbed by the police, along with the accompanying sound of two gunshots in the background, had gone viral, with a message stating that the police had “caught a terrorist who was shooting everywhere at Jaipur Airport”.
But in reality, the video was recorded on the night of 16 August 2018, that showed a former bodyguard named Shankar being nabbed by the CISF for drunkenly jumping out of a moving car and snatching the pistol off an on-duty CISF security officer near the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.
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