Man arrested for robbery in Gujarat, video falsely viral as Delhi riots accused arrested

A video of policemen in civilian clothes arresting four men eating at a roadside Dhaba has been making the rounds on social media. It has been claimed that Bharuch Crime Branch arrested ‘Siraj Mohammad Anwar’, an accused in last year’s Delhi riots. Twitter user @SortedEagle shared the clip, drawing over 1.2 lakh views as of this writing. The tweet was later taken down but an archived can be accessed here. @SortedEagle’s tweet was quote-tweeted by @KreatelyOSINT and OpIndia CEO Rahul Roushan. The latter has deleted his tweet.

Several others have promoted the identical claim.

Live Operation of Bharuch Crime Branch arresting Mobsters from Delhi, whose name is Siraj Mohd Anwar n involved in Delhi riots. Upon tips, Bharuch Crime Branch nabbed him and his Associates… Rare to see such footages…!!!*👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/dyi9xNg5jZ

— శ్రీ சோழ (@srinath_adv) July 1, 2021

The footage is also circulating on Facebook with Tamil and Hindi captions. Pro-BJP propaganda pages Politics Solitics and Mission Modi, and SSB Crack garnered thousands of views for the CCTV footage.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Fact-check

Alt News performed a keyword search which led us to a Times of India report dated July 1, 2021. According to the report, Ahmedabad police crime branch officers, posing as customers, managed to arrest a group of criminals at a roadside eatery. The accused is identified as wanted man Kishore Luhar who has 14 cases of robbery and rape registered against him. The report informs that he was nabbed from a Dhaba in Amarpura village of Saraswati taluka in Gujarat’s Patan district. Police also recovered a gun from Kishoer. The three individuals dining with him were also arrested.

The Indian Express also covered the incident in a video report. So did News24.

Undercover police officers from the #Ahmedabad crime branch arrested a man carrying a weapon in a Dhaba. He was also wanted in several criminal cases. pic.twitter.com/WuW7AcNedb

— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) July 1, 2021

Alt News reached out to the Ahmedabad Crime Branch and was informed, “On June 27, an accused named Kishore Kantilal Luhar, 29, was arrested on charges of rape and vehicle theft from a Dhaba on Patan Highway. He has many criminal cases registered against him in three different states. The police also found a gun in his possession and arrested the three others sitting with him, but they were released after interrogation. The individual has since been handed over to Baroda police for further investigation.”

A journalist with The Indian Express sent us a press release issued by the crime branch. The press release in Gujarati states, “An investigation was initiated on receipt of evidence of offences of theft and illegal arms in respect to accused Kishore Luhar, resident of District Banaskantha, Gujarat. The police initiated further action upon receiving concrete information that Kishore was in a hotel in Patan. As soon as the individual was found, he was brought to the Ahmedabad Crime Branch office for questioning. During the interrogation, Kishore also told police about three vehicles he had stolen with accomplice Naresh Garg.” Kishore has been accused of stealing vehicles and robbing locked homes. Apart from this, he was also accused of rape in 2013. The press release has no mention of Delhi riots.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Ahmedabad police denied that Kishore was arrested for involvement in the Delhi riots when questioned by Alt News. He was arrested on charges of theft, robbery and rape.

The claim circulating on social media names one Mohammad Siraj Anwar. A press release dated June 29 was tweeted by Bharuch police stating that they “conducted an investigation regarding illegal weapons and caught a man travelling in the city with illegal weapons. The individual has been identified as Mohammad Siraj Anwar alias Manzoor Alam Ansari, a resident of Bharuch city. However, he is from Delhi and Patna, Bihar. The police recovered two country-made pistols, two magazines, three mobile phones, 19 7.65 mm cartridges along with Rs 3,310 cash from Anwar. He had travelled from Bihar to sell weapons in Bharuch city. Apart from this, he has moved around and lived in several Indian states and also in Malaysia.” The press release states that the investigation in the matter is underway but has no mention of the Delhi riots.

ભરૂચ તાલુકાના દેરોલ ચોકડી પરથી ગેરકાયદેસર અગ્નિશસ્ત્રો( પિસ્તોલ ) નંગ -૦૨ તથા મેગજીન નંગ -૦૨ અને કાર્ટીઝ નંગ -૧૯ સાથે એક ઇસમને ઝડપી પાડતી ભરૂચ ક્રાઇમ બ્રાન્ચ.#DGPgujarat#Gujaratpolice#Bharuchpolice pic.twitter.com/4F8bF0vP1d

— Bharuch Police (@BharuchPolice) June 29, 2021

Therefore, neither of the two cases are linked to the Delhi riots. The video shows Gujarat police arresting a man accused of theft and alleged rape, while Mohammad Siraj Anwar was nabbed by Bharuch police for possession of illegal weapons.