A video of police arresting a man who is dressed in a sari has gone viral. The video is being shared with a caption suggesting that the man wearing the saree is a Pakistani spy.
A social media user shared the video and wrote, “Pakistani spy arrested in saree.” (Translated from Hindi)
South Check found that the claim is false. The man arrested in the video was identified as a history-sheeter.
On a Google reverse image search, we found that the same video was shared by Dainik Jagran with the caption, “#VIDEO: The police, who went to arrest an absconding history-sheeter in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, were shocked when they found him in his house disguised as a woman. The accused was wearing a sari-blouse and was sitting with his veil on. On seeing the police, he started telling through gestures that Dayashankar (the accused) is not at home. But the police understood his cunningness and caught him there. Now this video is going viral on social media.”
The incident was also reported by Business Standard on June 19. The report suggested that a Jodhpur history‑sheeter, Dayashankar alias Bittu, accused in 13 cases including assault and robbery, evaded arrest for nearly four months by disguising himself at home in a saree and veil. He was ultimately caught in a police raid.
TV9 also reported about the incident on June 19.
According to the report, Bittu had an old rivalry with a man named Prince. He first called Prince on the pretext of a compromise and then assaulted him, leaving him seriously injured. Since then, the police had been actively searching for Bittu. Whenever they visited his house, he would deceive them—sometimes speaking in a woman’s voice from behind a veil, and other times sticking his hand out from inside the door to claim that Bittu wasn’t home.
There is no mention of him having any links to Pakistan.
The person in the news reports is wearing the same dress as seen in the viral video. This confirmed that it is the same person.
After repeatedly being misled, the police grew suspicious. Though they initially avoided removing the veil out of caution, they began surveillance and soon uncovered the truth.
We tried contacting Jodhpur police, and the copy will be updated as and when they send their response. However, we can ascertain that the viral claim is false.
