Two videos—one showing police personnel gathered around a body, and another showing police personnel apprehending a few individuals—are viral on social media with the false claim that they show terrorists being nabbed in Mumbai and Uttarakhand's Kainchi Dam, respectively.
BOOM spoke to Maharashtra and Uttarakhand police, who confirmed to us that both the videos depict mock drills conducted by security officials, and do not depict terrorists being nabbed.
In one of the videos, police officers are seen gathered around a body lying on the road. In the other, security personnel are shown apprehending three individuals and escorting them away with their faces covered.
The videos are circulating amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan following a deadly terror attack in Kashmir's Pahalgam, Jammu on April 22. In the aftermath, the Indian government accused Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism and launched retaliatory air strikes, dubbed as 'Operation Sindoor', leading to exchange of missiles, armed drones and heavy firing between two countries.
An X user shared a video with the caption, "BIG BREAKING: Unconfirmed Reports from D Mart, Powai, Mumbai. Terrorist encounter took place near DMart in Powai.... According to report, one terrorist is killed and other terrorist report is not confirmed yet.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Another user shared a video and wrote, "Terrorists caught at Kainchi Dham — but no one’s saying which religion they belong to. Why the silence?"
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Fact Check
We spoke to police officials in Maharashtra and Uttarakhand, who confirmed that the visuals were part of mock drills conducted as part of security preparations.
Video 1
BOOM reviewed the replies to the posts making the claim and found a user claiming that the video was from a mock drill conducted on May 13, 2025, citing a post from the official X handle of Sakinaka Police.
The post by Sakinaka Police's official X handle, also dated May 13, stated that "a mock drill was conducted that day at around 12:00 noon at Nahar Amrit Shakti, D Mart, Chandivali, Sakinaka, Mumbai 400072, within the jurisdiction of the Sakinaka Police Station."
The post further mentioned that the mock drill was attended by "the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Sakinaka Division, Mumbai, Pradeep Mairale, Senior Inspector of Police, PSI Kundalkar; seven commandos from the West QRT Battalion, and PSI Masal along with five commandos from the Main QRT Battalion."
Click here to view the post.
Taking a cue, we spoke to Sakinaka Division ACP Pradeep Mairale, who confirmed that the visuals were from a mock drill conducted by security officials.
Mairale told BOOM, "Those videos are not of any real incident. The visuals are from a mock drill organised here. I was also a part of that drill."
Video 2
We ran a related keyword search in Hindi and found a video on a YouTube vlog from May 11, 2025, featuring similar visuals. The caption clearly stated that it shows a mock drill operation at Kainchi Dham in Nainital.
Several news outlets also covered the mock drill conducted on May 10, 2025, at Kainchi Dham in Nainital, Uttarakhand.
News18 Hindi reported on the incident on May 11, noting that the mock drill saw coordinated participation from the police, SDRF (State Disaster Response Force), Fire Department, ATS (Anti-Terrorism Squad), and QRT (Quick Response Team). During the exercise, security forces neutralised two people posed as terrorists and apprehended three others.
For further verification, BOOM reached out to Nainital SSP P.N. Meena, who confirmed that the viral claim is false and clarified that the video does not show any real incident of nabbing terrorists.
Meena told BOOM, "The video shows a mock drill. It does not show any terrorist being caught at Kainchi Dham in Uttarakhand."
