Media Check

India Today, Times Now, ABP News, NDTV misreported on Khalid Saifi’s arrest

Written by Facto News Desk

New Delhi: Delhi riots started on 23rd FEB and continued till 29th FEB. Reports say that the riots have taken more than 50 lives. The riots started when Anti-CAA protests and Pro-CAA protests were at a peak stage across the city. Delhi police have been arresting several people in relation to the riots and for making provocative speeches. Khalid Saifi one of the founding members of United Against Hate was also arrested by  SIT in a case related to Chand Bagh violence.

A viral claim is doing rounds across social media, mainstream news channels for the last few hours. Major Media houses published articles on the arrest of Khalid Saifi. India today says “Delhi Police arrests Khalid Saifi in Chand Bagh violence case“,(Archive).   Times Now published “Delhi riots: Police arrests man in Chand Bagh violence case“, (Archive) (Youtube video). Free Journal Press also published this, “Delhi Police arrests Khalid Saifi in Chand Bagh violence case: Who is he?” (Archive). NDTV hindi also reported “दिल्ली दंगों की साजिश के मामले में खालिद सैफी गिरफ्तार (Archive).

Delhi Riots

ABP news covered this story, at 0:31 we can hear the reported is saying Crime Branch has arrested Khalis Saifi for Chand Bagh violence.

Twitter user, claiming that Khalid Saifi was arrested today:

Deepak Chaurasia, news anchor at NewsNation (always ahead in spreading misinformation) also tweeted the same. (Archive)

Mrs. Gandhi, (National Incharge of Social Media – BJP Mahila Morcha – World’s largest political party!), tweets “SIT has just arrested Khalid Saifi for orchestrating & planning Delhi riots along with Tahir Hussain & Umar Khalid. Sharing a few of his pics for an even better perspective of the company he keeps!”. (Archive).

Major Surendra Poonia also tweeted,

FactO Check:

We did a keyword search about Khalid Saifi and found two articles from maktoobmedia.com/, published on 27th FEB 2020 about Khalid Saifi’s arrest, another article published by the same media on 13th march about Khalid Saifi spotted walking with a broken leg. The video was allegedly taken when he was being shifted to jail after 14 days of police custody.  According to The Wire report published on 8th May, the Khalid Saifi bail plea was rejected when Sabu Ansari was granted bail. In the same article, The wire also wrote about Saifi’s arrest on 26th FEB.

Journalist Aditya Menon has also tweeted about Khalid Saifi’s arrest on 26th Feb 2020, we found a video on YouTube when Khalid was taken into custody on 26th FEB.

A post made by United against Hate page, where Khalid is a founding member, clearly states that he was booked in a third FIR on Sunday. They also mentioned he was first picked on 26th FEB.

So why Khalid Saifi is in news again?

When Times Now misreports in the tweet, in a video posted on their channel we can hear reporter Priyank narrates the real story. At 1:05 he says the Khalid was arrested earlier and Delhi Police has taken him under police custody, but the recent development is he was taken into custody by Crime Branch yesterday in Chand Bagh riot case.

Another article published by Maktoob Media, with heading “Delhi violence: Now, UAH activist Khalid Saifi booked in a third FIR“. The Delhi Police on Sunday ‘arrested’ activist Khalid Saifi who was already in custody and booked him in a third FIR related to the Delhi violence.

Another Journalist, Neha Dixit also slammed Times now for miss report.

Conclusion: According to all evidence and media reports, we conclude that the Khalid was already in Police custody, and his bail was also rejected on the 8th of May. On Sunday(7th June) he was just got booked in another FIR.

ClaimReview: Delhi Riot: Khalid Saifi Arrested by SIT today

Claim By: India Today, Times Now, ABP News

Fact Check by Facto News: FALSE

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Facto News Desk

FACTO™ is a registered trademark of FACTO Digital Media (OPC) Private Limited, Trademark registered with the trademark registry of India under the Trademark act 1999. FactO News of FACTO Digital Media (OPC) Private Limited is an independent fact-checking platform committed to fighting misinformation/disinformation, false and fake news that we come across social media and mainstream media. We provide our readers with verified facts and educate them on issues that focus on but not limited to political, communal, and social aspects.

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