CLAIMMany social media users are citing an undated newspaper clipping with an intent to give an impression that three men with laptops were arrested from an EVM strongroom in
Chhattisgarh's Bastar during
Lok Sabha Election 2019.
Here is the newspaper clipping:
The newspaper clipping's headline translates to, "3 men who entered EVM strongroom with laptops arrested". It says that three men, all of them Reliance
Jio employees, entered an EVM strongroom in Chhattisgarh's Bastar with laptops and were arrested from there.
The incident happened in Government Mahila Polytechnic College in Bastar's
Jagdalpur. The news report also says that two guards were suspended.
Those who are sharing this newspaper clipping are doing so without giving any context or details about when the news is from.
TRUTHTwo men were detained near an EVM strongroom in Chhattisgarh’s Jagdalpur on December 6. The arrest was made after Congress workers said that these men entered the strongroom with a bag.
TOI had carried a video report on this then:
VERIFICATION AND METHODOLOGYA simple search on Google with relevant keywords will lead you to news articles from December, 2018 about the incident.
News agency ANI carried a report about the incident quoting police as saying, "They're saying they're employed with Jio. It's being investigated if they've IDs. It's not possible to enter strong room without IDs. We can say anything only after probe." ANI tweeted the same along with three photos.
A follow-up
report on the incident on ANI the next day, however, said that Reliance Jio denied that the men arrested from the strongroom were their employees.
The report had quotes from a Reliance Jio spokesperson saying the men detained were not employees of Reliance Jio but technicians of their vendors -- NDS (New Distinct Services) and Delta Power Solutions Pvt. Limited -- who visited a Reliance Jio mobile tower located at the Mahila Polytechnic College Jagdalpur to carry out regular maintenance work and that they were "not present in or near the strong room as reported".
VERDICTTimes Fact Check has found that the incident of men being arrested from near an EVM strongroom in Chhattisgarh's Bastar is from 2018 and not during Lok Sabha Election 2019.