Video of Manhole Cover Theft in Mumbai Shared With False Communal Angle

Inspector Deepshikha Vare of Versova Police told The Quint that the thief belongs to the Hindu community.

A video showing people stealing a manhole cover in Andheri, Mumbai is being shared with the false claim that the man in the video is a Bangladeshi national called Sheik Nazarul.

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

A video showing a man coming out of an autorickshaw and stealing a manhole cover is being widely shared on X (formerly Twitter).

The claim: The video is being shared with the text, "Thanks to CCTV, this illegal Bangladeshi Sheik Nazarul was caught and arrested. They are digging the infrastructure of our country. They are eating our economy & should be thrown out of our country. (sic)"

An archived version of this post can be seen here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Archives of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here and here.)

Is it true?: No, the claim is false as the person arrested for stealing manhole covers belongs to the Hindu community.

How do we know?: We carried out a reverse image search on the video, which led us to an Instagram post dated 29 August 2025, shared by news organisation Times Now.

• It mentioned that two people were caught on CCTV, stealing manhone covers in the Aram Nagar area in Andheri, Mumbai.

• Taking a cue from this, we looked for the relevant FIR, registered at Versova police station, for more details about the incident.

• It mentioned that the incident took place on 28 August, and five manhole covers, worth Rs 65,000, were reported as stolen.

• Filed against "unknown persons," the FIR mentioned that the people were charged under section 303(2) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), pertaining to theft.

• To get more information, we reached out to Versova Police Inspector Deepshikha Vare, who categorically denied the communal angle given to the clip.

"He's not a Bangladeshi, he is Hindu. Right now, he is under judicial custody," Vare told The Quint.

She identified that the person who stole the manhole covers as one Amarjit Kamati.

Conclusion: A video showing manhole covers being stolen in Mumbai is being shared with a false claim that the thief is from Bangladesh.

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