Videos that led to lynchings were manipulated: Police

Mumbai: At least five videos that allegedly fuelled rumours of child-lifting and led to lynching incidents in Maharashtra have been found to be "manipulated", a senior police official said on Thursday. 

He claimed that most of these videos were "misrepresented to create panic" and were not of incidents in Maharashtra, but shot elsewhere. 

Some of these clippings were from places like Bengaluru, Syria and Karachi in Pakistan, he said. 

"These videos should not have been circulated. Whether these were morphed, edited or bogus, the clips created serious problems," Maharashtra's Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Bipin Bihari said. 

"Our cyber crime team is investigating the source of these videos," he said. 

Mob violence and lynching triggered by rumours have claimed 10 lives in 14 incidents in Maharashtra during the last one-and-a-half months.