A collage of few pictures is being widely shared on social media platforms. It is being claimed along with the pictures that there were the weapons that were recovered in a raid at a Madarsa. The post also claimed that machine guns were obtained in the raid. During the investigation we found that the pictures are from different incidents. The news however is from 2019 and not recent. Viral claims are misleading.
Claim:
X user सन्नी भारत NAMO shared the viral claim along with the collage of pictures on handle.
Check the archive version of the post here.
Other users too are sharing the same claim on social media platforms.
We also found the post being circulated on WhatsApp.
Investigation:
We started our investigation by running a reverse image on images one after the other.
Pic 1:
We ran a reverse image search on the first pic.
We found the picture on the website of Vartha Bharati. The article uploaded in 2018 was titled: Photos of Sikh Kirpan Factory Falsely Circulated on Social Media as PFI Stock of Swords.
The article mentioned: Then, in search of the origin of the photos of swords factory, the media team reached Patiala district in Punjab. It was discovered that the images were taken from a local Sikh sword factory known as Khalsa Kirpan. Bachan Singh, the owner of the factory, recalled and confirmed that the photos were of his warehouse and they were taken by a person who was among a group of tourists visiting his factory some years ago.
Pic 2:
We found out that the picture is from 2016, when Gujarat police raided a shop on Rajkot – Ahmedabad highway and seized the weapons.
A stash similar to the weapons in the viral picture can be seen on the table in a picture carried by Gujarat Headline in a report published on March 5, 2016.
This post is now deleted, but we obtained the screenshot through one of the fact checks published in the year 2019.
Pic 3:
We ran a reverse image search on this picture and found the image, in a post by Shamli Police on July 29, 2019.
Post said: Shamli police arrested 07 suspects including 04 foreigners and 03 Mohtamim/Madrasa operators belonging to three different Madrasas. Illegal documents, Indian and foreign currency and several mobile phones were recovered.
Pic 4:
This picture was also seen in the article Gujarat Headline in a report published on March 5, 2016 about a raid.
Pic 5:
During reverse image search, it was found that this picture also dated back to 2019 as seen on several social media pages. This oldest footprint of this image was found on Tumblr. The post has now been deleted.
Pic 6:
This image too was from an operation led by the Rajkot Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) and Kuvadava Police. The team busted an illegal weapons trade that was being operated from a hotel near Chotila on the Rajkot Ahmedabad highway as mentioned in the Gujarat headline news. In the background the same table is visible as seen in the earlier pictures.
We then ran a keyword search on the claim that stated: weapons that were recovered in a raid at a Madarsa. The news though true is from 2019.
A report on Business Standard stated: Six people were detained after police recovered weapons from a madrasa here, an officer said. Following a tip-off, a raid was carried out at madrasa Darul Quran Hamidia on Kandhla road in Sherkot area in the afternoon, Circle Officer (CO) Kripashankar Kannaujia said.
Conclusion: Old news from 2019 of weapons being seized in Madarsa and unrelated pictures go viral on social media as recent. Viral claims are misleading.
