Fact Check: Video of UP police constable arrest falsely linked to weapon smuggling
In the short clip, a man dressed as a police officer is seen being apprehended.
By Sibahathulla Sakib Published on 22 Sep 2024 10:39 AM GMT
Claim: A viral video shows Shahnawaz Khan, a police officer from UP, being arrested for supplying illegal weapons to his friends.
Fact: The claim is false. Head Constable Shahnawaz Khan was arrested for accepting a bribe.
Hyderabad: A video claiming to show a Uttar Pradesh police official being caught red-handed while illegally supplying weapons to others has gone viral. Those sharing the video claim that the police officer is a Muslim insinuating a religious angle to the incident.
A Facebook user posted a video with the caption, āLatest news. Shahnawaz Khan, posted as DPSP in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, was caught by the anti-corruption team in the store room of the police station with Rs 1,50,000 lakhs. He was handing over illegal weapons like guns, pistols, etc., seized by the police to his own friends. He was caught red-handed. It is rightly said that a Muslim can never be a patriot.ā
In the short clip, a man dressed as a police officer is seen being apprehended.
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading.
A reverse image search of the keyframes revealed a video on the NDTV YouTube channel titled, āKanpur News | Head Constable Gets Arrested Over Corruption Charges In Kanpurā, published on September 10, 2024.
The visuals in the NDTV report match the ones in the viral clip. According to the report, the person in visual was arrested on corruption charges and he was a head constable.
Taking a cue from this, we performed a keyword search, which led us to a report by Navabharth Times titled āSeeing the poverty, the policemanās heart melted! He agreed to accept a bribe of only 15 thousand instead of 20 thousandā dated September 10, 2024. The report had screenshots of the video.
According to the report, Divyang Rinku Paswan filed a report at Kidwai Nagar police station against Mona Kashyap, Raja Kashyap, Sameer, and Raja's wife, accusing them of assault, abuse, threats and violations under the SC/ST Act. ACP Babupurwa was in charge of the investigation.
During the process, head constables Shahnawaz Khan and Yogesh Kumar allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 20,000 from Rinku to file the charge sheet. Rinku, citing financial hardship, managed to negotiate the amount down to Rs 15,000. He then reported the demand to the vigilance team, who set up a plan to catch the officers in the act.
Additionally, we found screenshots of the video in a report from Amar Ujawala titled āKanpur: Vigilant caught head constable red-handed for demanding 15 thousand bribe in the name of progress in the case, suspendedā published on September 10, 2024.
According to this report, Rinku agreed to pay a bribe of Rs 15,000 but reported the matter to the Vigilance Department. Upon investigation, the complaint was confirmed, and a plan was made to catch the corrupt constable.
On Monday, the vigilance team accompanied Rinku to the ACP Babupurwa office. When Rinku handed Rs 15,000 to head constable Shahnawaz, the team immediately arrested him.
SP Vigilance stated that Shahnawaz will be presented in the Anti-Corruption Special Court in Lucknow on Tuesday. DCP South, Ravindra Kumar, confirmed the arrest and said the head constable has been suspended for taking a bribe.
We also found a similar report by Dainik Bhaskar.
Hence, the claim that head constable Shahnawaz Khan was arrested for supplying illegal weapons is false. He was arrested for accepting a bribe.
