Old Video Of Fake Pir Arrested In Pakistan Revived With Misleading Claim

A video of a fake Pir being busted by police is going viral on social media. In the viral video, some policemen can be seen digging inside a grave. Later in the excavation, it was found that a man was sitting beneath the grave. While sharing this video, people on social media claimed that that a pir was arrested by the police in Punjab, India for fooling people.

A Facebook user shared this video and wrote, "मुरीदों के पुकारनें पर ; पीर साहब कब्र से ही जवाब देते थे , पँजाब पुलिस को जब पता चल गया तो पीर साहब को आवाज़ समेत कब्र से ही बाहर निकाल लिया ; एक बार पीर साहब की ज़ियारत जरूर करें आप."

[English Translation: : Pir Sahib used to answer his followers from the grave. When the Punjab Police came to know about it, Pir Sahib was taken out of the grave along with his voice. You must visit Peer Sahib once.]

It is being widely shared on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim.

Claim:

Fake Peer arrested by Punjab Police for duping people.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian Fact Check team verified the viral claim and found it to be misleading. The viral video is 3 years old and not related to India.

During the initial investigation, we did a keyword search and found that the same video went viral back in April 2022 as well. It clearly suggests that the viral video is not from recent time.

We then extracted different keyframes from the viral video using the InVid tool and conducted a Google reverse image search. It led us to a tweet done by Adeel Raza, a Pakistani journalist dated back to 15 February 2020 in which same video can be seen. According to the caption, viral video is of a fake Pir who was caught in Sialkot, Pakistan.

Taking hint from it, we did an open keyword search and found the viral video on the official YouTube channel of 24 News HD, a Pakistan based News channe dated 19 February 2020. According to the video report, the viral incident is from Sialkot city of Pakistan. A man who called himself a healer was playing with the faith of the people and extorting money from them in the name of 'black magic'. According to the report, the man had also deceived the people by saying that he would remain in the grave for 40 days without eating or drinking. However, it was found that he was staying in the grave with all the basic facilities. The fake pir had kept food and drink items with him.

According to the report of ARY News, Various tunnels were dug around the grave leading up to the one where the fake healer was residing. He was arrested by the police but later released on bail.

We also found another video in which the pir can be seen going inside the grave while his followers were crying and hugging him. Later, the Pakistan Police took him out from the grave and arrested him.

It is evident from our investigaton that the viral video is not from India but from Sialkot, Pakistan. A fake pir was arrested by Pakistan Police in year 2020 for duping people for extorting money in the name of 'black magic'. This video has nothing to do with India. Hence, the viral claim is misleading.

Also Read: Case Of Honour Killing From Hyderabad Shared With False Communal Claim

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