Journalist made up robbery claim for personal reasons: UP cops

The Uttar Pradesh police has said that a journalist’s claims of being robbed in Noida last week were untrue, and that no such incident took place. Atul Agrawal, the editor-in-chief of Hindi Khabar, had written a Facebook post alleging he was robbed of Rs 5,000 by armed assailants near Noida Extension last week.

While he did not file an FIR, Noida Police took suo motu cognizance of the incident based on social media posts.

“A team of five COG officers probed the case. We investigated all electronic and CCTV evidence pertaining to the alleged incident. The scribe had alleged the robbery had taken place around 1 am near Hindon Pul after which he went home. It was found through CCTV footage that he had reached an Oyo hotel room in Sector 121 after 1 am where he spent the night. The distance between the hotel room and his house indicate that it was not possible that the incident occurred,” said Noida Police in a statement.

Police further said “all evidence points to the fact that no incident of loot took place with Atul Agrawal and that the false incident was put on social media for personal reasons”.

In the social media post, the journalist, a Noida resident, had claimed he was in his Safari car when he was stopped by five men on motorcycles near a police booth in Bisrakh. He claimed that when he lowered his window, one of the accused pulled out a gun and asked him to hand over valuables. He claimed he was forced to give Rs 5,000 and that the accused attempted to choke him.

He claimed that at some point, the accused took his phone and made him unlock it. He claimed they noticed the press sticker on his car and appeared to recognise him. He further claimed they threw his phone in the backseat, warned him not to report the incident to anyone, and fled on their bikes.