Muslims dressed as sadhus beaten up in Meerut? False claim, all three were Hindus

by Abhishek Kumar

A video is viral on social media where a group of people dressed as sadhus are seen seated on the ground while the individual behind the camera asks their names. In response, they mention their names as Sunil, Gopi and Gaurav. While sharing this video, it is being claimed that three people were going around in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh dressed as sadhus, and were caught by locals who believed them to be child-lifters. Following this, the video of these sadhus being beaten also came to light. Several people shared it on social media and claimed that these were a group of Muslims posing as sadhus.

Sudarshan News shared the video and claimed that the public caught the trio in Meerut while they were roaming around dressed in sadhu’s attire. It also claimed that one of them had an Aadhar card in the name of Mohd. Shamim. (Archived link)

Ajay Chauhan, a handle which regularly shares misinformation, amplified the video and claimed that the people being beaten were Bangladeshis who were asking for donations for the temple in the guise of sadhus. (Archived link)

Rajat Mishra of Sudarshan News also shared the video on X and identified the individuals as Mohammad Shamim and his gang. In addition, Sagar Kumar of the same outlet quoted it and wrote that Mohammad Shamid used to perform recces of the same locality wearing saffron attire along with his gang.

Fact Check

Alt News examined the official X handle of Meerut Police and found a statement from them in this matter. Responding to Sudarshan News, Meerut Police said that after its personnel reached the scene, the three sadhus were brought to the police station. Upon being interrogated, it was found that all three were sadhus of the Nath sect from Yamunanagar, Haryana, who had been asking for alms. In other words, the group was neither Muslim nor Bangladeshi.

In an initial statement, the police had denied that the sadhus were taken hostage and beaten up. However, they issued a second statement saying that they had taken cognisance of the matter and called two people to the police station for questioning after which they would take further action.

According to a report published on Hindustan’s website on July 14, police had initially denied any assault had occurred. After the video had gone viral, the police arrested three people in the case.

To sum it up, several social media users, including Sudarshan News and its employees, shared a video of sadhus being held hostage with the false claim that they were Muslims arrested in Meerut who were roaming around posing as sadhus. Several users also claimed that they were from Bangladesh. However, in reality, they were indeed sadhus belonging to the Nath sect from Haryana.

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About the Author

Abhishek is a senior fact-checking journalist and researcher at Alt News. He has a keen interest in information verification and technology. He is always eager to learn new skills, explore new OSINT tools and techniques. Prior to joining Alt News, he worked in the field of content development and analysis with a major focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO).