Video from Tamil Nadu falsely shared as chain-snatching incident in Uttar Pradesh

What is the claim?

A CCTV footage of a woman being dragged by a man in a car attempting to snatch her chain is being shared on social media with a claim that the incident took place in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP). 

One such post (archived here) on X (formerly Twitter) shared the video with a caption, "Jungle Raj UP!! (lawlessness in Uttar Pradesh) The robber snatched the chain from a woman on the road and escaped! (Translated from Hindi)." It indirectly refers to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led Yogi Adityanath government in the state and questions the safety of women. The post garnered 183,400 views on the platform while writing this story.  Archived visions of other posts making similar claims can be viewed here and here. 

Screenshot of viral posts on social media. (Source: X/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the video is from an incident that happened in Coimbatore, a city in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. A 33-year-old woman named Kaushalya was briefly dragged by a man in a car trying to snatch her chain.

What did we find?

A reverse image search on the screenshot from the clip led us to a video uploaded on YouTube by English newspaper Hindustan Times (archived here) on May 17, 2023.

The video showed the same visuals and the caption read, “Chain Snatching Incident In Tamil Nadu Captured On CCTV.” The description box noted that a 33-year-old woman named Kaushalya was briefly dragged by a man in a car trying to snatch her chain, but she managed to escape. It added that based on the woman’s complaint and the CCTV footage, the two suspects, Abhishek and Sakthivel, were arrested by the police.

A report published by The Indian Express on May 16, 2023, also included the now-viral clip stating that the incident was reported near GV Residency in Coimbatore at 6.30 a.m. when the woman was out for a morning walk. The report quoted Singanallur police inspector Meenambigai stating that a case was registered under Indian Penal Code Section 394 (causing voluntary hurt while committing robbery). 

Speaking to Logically Facts, a police inspector at the same station, who refused to be named, confirmed the details and said the incident was from Coimbatore. 

Several other news organizations in 2023 also reported on the incident and published the now-viral video, noting that the footage is from Tamil Nadu, not Uttar Pradesh.   

The verdict

The viral video captures a chain-snatching attempt in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, in 2023, which has now been shared as a recent incident from Uttar Pradesh. Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.