Fact Check: Picture of man accused of raping a minor in MP falsely shared as being an accused in Hathras case

A picture of one Sameer Khan alias Sikander is doing rounds on social media claiming that he is a Congress leader and one of the accused in the recent Hathras rape case.
The Facebook post read, “ఇటీవల ఉత్తరప్రదేశ్ దళిత మహిళ అత్యాచార కేసులో పోలీసులు పట్టుకున్న సమీర్ ఖాన్, కాంగ్రెస్ లీడర్. పోలీస్ వారు ధృవీకరించి కేసులోని నిందితుడిని కోర్టుకు హాజరు పరచగా 15 రోజులు రిమాండ్ విధించారు.
ఇప్పుడు చెప్పండి దళితులపై హత్యాచారం చేసింది ఎవరో! నిన్నటి వరకు తెగ పోస్ట్ లు పెట్టి తెగ వాగిన వారు ఇప్పుడు చెప్పండి వీరిని ఎన్ కౌంటర్ చెయ్యాలా వద్దా? ఇప్పుడు పెట్టండి పోస్ట్ లు. దళిత మహిళను పాడు చేసిన వీడిని ఎన్ కౌంటర్ చెయ్యండి అని.
ఇక ఒక్కరు మాట్లాడరు, నోర్లు రావు ?!”
(Translation: Congress leader Sameer Khan has been caught by police in the recent rape case of a Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh. Police have confirmed the accused in the case has been remanded for 15 days after he appeared in court. Now tell me who raped the Dalits! Till yesterday, those who used to post a lot of posts, now tell me, should we encounter them or not? Now keep the posts. Encounter this guy who spoiled the life of a Dalit woman.
No one will speak, no one will speak?!)

Similar posts can be seen here, here, here, here, here and here.

FACT CHECK

English

വസ്തുതാ പരിശോധന: പ്രായമായൊരു മനുഷ്യന്‍റെ വൈകാരിക ചിത്രം റഷ്യന്‍-ഉക്രൈന്‍ യുദ്ധവുമായി ബന്ധപ്പെട്ടതല്ല

Mar 10, 2022

Coronavirus Fact Check

Fact Check: Did Centre Reject ‘Emergency Use’ Approval of COVID-19 Vaccines? Here’s The Truth

Dec 17, 2020

English

Fact Check: Old Pictures Of Indian Flag Being Disrespected Falsely Linked To Ongoing Farmers’ Protest;…

Dec 16, 2020

NewsMobile fact-checked the above post and found it to be misleading.
We first cropped the social media picture and then we ran the second picture through Google Reverse Image Search.
We found the same picture in the news article by Sab Guru dated September 13, 2020, claiming that Satna police of Madhya Pradesh have arrested an accused – Sikandar Khan – for making obscene videos of minor Hindu girls. Also, the accused was in contact with the girl by using the name ‘Sameer Singh’ whereas his real name is Mohammad Ali Ansari or Sikandar Khan.

We also found the same picture in another news article by Punjab Kesri dated September 13, 2020, claiming that the Satna police have arrested Sikander Khan who used the fake name of Sameer Singh to molest a minor for three years.

Other news articles where we can see the picture of Sikander Khan can be seen here.
On comparing the social media picture and real picture, it is proved that the accused in the picture is from Madhya Pradesh and is not linked to the Hathras case.

On digging further, with the help of keyword search, we also found another picture of the accused in Navbharat Times dated September 13, 2020, claiming that the accused Sameer or Sikander Khan has been taken into the custody by Satna Police.

On comparing social media picture on the poster and real picture, we can clearly see that Sameer Khan alias Sikander is the accused in a rape case in Madhya Pradesh and is falsely claimed to be involved in Hathras rape case.

We also found a news report uploaded on YouTube by News18 dated September 14, 2020, claiming that Satna Police had arrested Sameer Khan alias Sikander, under POCSO Act. Moreover, according to the report, the Congress party has also given a clarification on the accused, where Congress leader Maqsood Ahmed claims that Sameer Khan or Sikander is not a member of the Congress.

Hence, with the help of the above information, it is clear that Sameer Khan alias Sikander is not accused of the Hathras rape case. Don’t fall for false and misleading claims.