- By PTI
- Sun, 05 Oct 2025 05:24 PM (IST)
- Source:PTI
What began as a rumour in western Uttar Pradesh a few months ago- of thieves using drones to scout rooftops before robberies- has now drifted eastwards, gripping one district after another in waves of panic and suspicion.
From Rae Bareli to Kanpur and from Etawah to Ballia, stories of "drone chor" have transformed into a kind of rural folklore, whispered at tea stalls and shouted in village lanes long after dusk.
The fear, though said to be born of fiction by the police, has begun to turn deadly. In Rae Bareli, police arrested five men on Saturday for allegedly lynching Hariom, a 38-year-old man from Fatehpur, after mistaking him for a drone thief.
The police said Hariom, reportedly mentally unstable, was walking to his in-laws' home in Dandepur Jamunapur when a mob surrounded him and accused him of being a member of a gang marking houses with drones for theft. He was beaten with belts and sticks and died soon after.
Superintendent of Police Yashveer Singh confirmed the arrests and said Unchahar Station House Officer (SHO) Sanjay Kumar had been transferred for negligence. "The local police were aware that rumours were spreading in the area," Singh told PTI.
Barely a day before the killing, Rae Bareli police arrested two men -- Mohammed Junaid of Lucknow and Mohammed Owaish of Sitapur -- for flying a drone without permission near the PAC colony.
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The duo, who run a furniture business, were using the drone to film videos "for fun", the police said, but their actions triggered fresh rumours and panic in nearby villages. "In an already tense atmosphere, even a harmless (drone) flight looks like a threat," said Mill Area SHO Ajay Kumar Rai.
The anxiety has also found new victims in Kanpur. In the Kherasa locality of Bidhnu, a mentally challenged man was brutally thrashed last week after villagers mistook him for a drone operator with criminal motives. "Not a single verified drone-related theft has been reported anywhere in Kanpur," Superintendent of Police (SP) Prabal Pratap Singh told PTI. "People must call us, and not take the law into their own hands."
In another part of the district, Ghaghukheda village in Maharajpur, locals nearly killed a man hiding in a field, suspecting him to be a part of a drone gang. The police rescued him just in time.
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Similar tensions have surfaced in Madhaugarh and Rampura, where travelling hawkers have been beaten by mobs who suspected them of being thieves "marking homes". "We can't even sell utensils anymore," said a vendor from Sirsa Kalar.
Senior police officers in Kanpur have now begun community outreach drives to calm nerves and prevent flare-ups.
DCP (South) Dipendra Nath Chaudhary, ADCP Rajesh Kumar, and ACP Krishnakant Yadav held public meetings in Sadh, Patara and Ghatampur, urging residents not to fall prey to rumours.
"If anyone is found spreading fake news or attacking innocents, strict action will be taken," Chaudhary said, calling the situation "an epidemic of misinformation".
The scare has since spread across the map of eastern Uttar Pradesh -- to Hamirpur, Pratapgarh, Etawah, Deoria and even Ballia -- carried by WhatsApp forwards, doctored videos and old clips recycled as new sightings. In Shivrajpur and Etah, villagers keep night vigils, calling out "Jaagte Raho!" into the dark. Others bang tin sheets at the slightest noise, mistaking flickering lights or stars for drones.
Hamirpur SP Deeksha Sharma said not one complaint had been confirmed. "We've checked every report. These sightings are unverified. But the rumours are so persuasive that even the usually calm villages are now gripped by fear," she said.
Officials in Lucknow describe the phenomenon as "collective fear syndrome". Calls to the state's UP-112 emergency line have surged, many reporting "flying lights" or "drone chor". Yet, none of the cases have yielded evidence of actual drone crimes.
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To contain the chaos, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in August directed all districts to maintain drone registers, ban night flights and book anyone spreading fear under the stringent Gangster Act or NSA. The police have also been instructed to trace social media accounts pushing such rumours. The CM reiterated his warning during a programme in Balrampur district on October 1.
"Orders have been issued to take action under the Gangster Act against those creating panic in the name of drones and to confiscate the property of those spreading terror in the name of theft," said the CM.
Still, in the countryside, the fear refuses to fade. Families in Etawah take turns staying awake at night; in Deoria, children are told not to step out after sunset; in Ballia, farmers have reported shining torches in the sky, convinced they're being watched.
(Note: Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by The Daily Jagran and has been published through a syndicated feed. Source - PTI)