On 1st October, a man named Hariom Valmiki was brutally murdered in Ishwardadpur village of Raebareli district, Uttar Pradesh, on suspicion of being part of a so-called ‘drone thief gang’. Hariom, who was reportedly mentally unstable, was on his way to attend funeral-related rituals with a few fellow villagers when he lost his way and took a different route. Around 10 PM in the Gadaganj police station area, some villagers alerted the police about a “suspicious man”, who turned out to be Hariom.

The police questioned him but found nothing incriminating and allowed him to go. However, he was stopped again by villagers in Ishwardadpur, who accused him of being part of the rumoured ‘drone thief gang’. In several parts of the country, baseless rumours have circulated that thieves use drones to

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