A video from Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh of two sisters confronting a man after he allegedly stole their mobile phone is being shared on social media with the false communal claim that the accused was a Muslim who wore a saffron stole to disguise himself as a Hindu.
BOOM reached out to Gwalior Police who confirmed that the accused seen in the video is not Muslim and identified him as Manpreet Singh.
The Claim:
The video is being shared on X and Instagram with the false claim that a Muslim man named Abdul wore a saffron cloth to disguise himself as a Hindu before snatching a mobile phone from the girls.
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What We Found:
1) News reports on incident
We ran a reverse image search using Google Lens and found several media reports identifying the incident as having taken place on August 8 at Phoolbagh Chowk in Gwalior, where two sisters chased down a man who allegedly snatched one of their mobile phones and tried to flee.
The two sisters were identified as 24-year-olds Harshita and Rasita Agrawal. IANS quoted Gwalior SSP Dharmveer Singh Yadav as saying that the sisters were on their way to college when a man allegedly snatched one of their mobile phones. He said they chased the accused, alerted the police and helped officers apprehend him.
2) "Accused not a Muslim": Gwalior Police
BOOM then reached out to Shilendra Bhargav, officer in-charge of Padav Police Station in Gwalior, who dismissed the communal claim and confirmed that the accused was not Muslim. “His name is Manpreet Singh. He is currently in jail,” Bhargav told BOOM.