CLAIM
An image of a group of men and women is being circulated on Facebook with a claim that they were arrested from a hostel room in Allahabad University while making bombs.
The caption which is written in Hindi, loosely translates to, "Allahabad University is the new hub of terrorism. These students were held while making bombs. But there will be no outrage because none of them belong to the Muslim community."
The image had over 19,000 shares at the time of writing this article.
TRUE OR FALSE?
The reality of this incident is very different from the social media narrative. Firstly, the incident took place in Madhya Pradesh's Ratlam district and not Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj (erstwhile Allahabad).
Secondly, these are not college students but a gang accused of running a sex-racket which was busted by Ratlam police on 14 July.
The Quint had debunked this story earlier in 2019 when the same photograph went viral with a claim that these were a group of child kidnappers.
Speaking to The Quint, Ratlam Superintendent of Police Gaurav Tiwari had said, "On 14 July, as many as 15 men, along with 8 women were arrested as they were involved in a sex racket. One of the girls is a minor. Officials of Dhodhar police station in Ratlam’s Jaora tehsil had busted this racket. This photo has got nothing to do with child kidnapping."
Clearly, an old and an unrelated picture has been passed off with a completely new narrative.
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