Journalist made false allegations of being looted at gunpoint, says Noida Police

In a shocking revelation, the Noida Police, which had probed on its own the alleged robbery of a TV journalist's belongings, on Friday said that the accusations made by him are untrue.

This comes after Atul Agrawal, the editor-in-chief of Hindi Khabar, had written a Facebook post alleging a robbery of Rs 5,000 cash by five unidentified men around 1 am on Sunday while on his way home in Greater Noida (West), also known as Noida Extension.

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

However, after investigation, the Police have claimed that journalist Atul Agrawal had fabricated the story of being mugged for "family reasons".

Senior officials visited the alleged incident site for inspection and after a due probe, it appears that no such incident of robbery as alleged took place, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Noida) Ankur Aggarwal told reporters on Friday.

महिला मित्र के घर खाने पर गये थे वरिष्ठ पत्रकार और उसके बाद पत्नी का फोन आया और रात Oyo होटल में बिताईं। @noidapolice ने पत्रकार के साथ लूटपाट की घटना को झूठ बताया। pic.twitter.com/0VdvV6KVbG

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"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.

"In light of all this evidence, it is proved that there has been no robbery incident with Mr Atul Agrawal and this fake case was spread on social media by him due to his personal family reasons," the Noida police concluded.