Claim
Atiq Ahmed’s aide Guddu Muslim has been arrested by the UP STF from Nashik.
Fact
UP STF Additional SP has confirmed to Newschecker that Guddu Muslim is still at large.
Soon after the killing of Atiq-Ashraf last week, several social media users claimed that another accused in the Umesh Pal murder case, Guddu Muslim has been arrested by the UP STF from Maharashtra’s Nashik. The social media interest in Guddu Muslim likely arose after videos of Ashraf taking his name moments before being shot dead went viral.
A day after the Atiq-Ashraf killing, multiple verified Twitter handles, including media person Aman Chopra, claimed that Atiq Ahmed’s aide Guddu Muslim had been arrested.
Such posts can be seen here, here, here and here.
His alleged arrest was also reported by RSS-affiliate Organiser on April 16, 2023. It stated, “The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force has caught Guddu Muslim from Nashik, an accused in the Umesh Pal case. This comes after gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were shot dead on the night of April 15.”
Also Read: No, Man Photographed With Akhilesh Yadav Is Not The Accused In Atiq Ahmed Murder Case
Fact Check/Verification
A Twitter search for “Guddu Muslim” & “UP STF” yielded a post by @ANINewsUP, dated April 17, 2023. The tweet stated, “Among all the people wanted in the murder of Umesh Pal and his security personnel, Guddu Muslim is the most dreaded criminal and a former professional shooter. We are trying to nab him. We hope he is caught soon: Amitabh Yash, ADG, STF, Lucknow”
Following, we looked up keywords “Guddu Muslim,” “Arrest,” & “STF” on Google which led us to a report by the Hindustan Times, dated April 18, 2023. It stated, “The police have not been able to nab Guddu Muslim, whose name surfaced in the wake of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad’s killing, but the efforts are underway, Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) DIG Anant Dev Tiwari said.”
A report by Times Of India, dated April 19, 2023, carried a video statement by the UP STF ADG, Amitabh Yash saying that the authorities are constantly searching for Guddu Muslim.
Also Read: Did Accused In Atiq Ahmed Murder Case Chant ‘Jai Shree Ram’? Here’s What We Found
Furthermore, no credible news outlet has so far reported on the arrest of Guddu Muslim. We also skimmed through the official Twitter handles of the UP STF and the UP Police, but did not find any mention of Guddu Muslim’s arrest.
Newschecker then reached out to the UP STF Additional SP, Vishal Vikram Singh who confirmed to us that Guddu Muslim has not been arrested and is still at large.
Conclusion
We could thus conclude that the accused in the Umesh Pal murder case and Atiq Ahmed’s aide, Guddu Muslim has not been arrested by the police till the time of publishing this article.
Result: False
Sources
Tweet By @ANINewsUP, Dated April 17, 2023
Report By Hindustan Times, Dated April 18, 2023
Report By
Telephonic Conversation With UP STF Addl SP Vishal Vikram Singh On April 20, 2023
(With inputs from Prathmesh Khunt)
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