The Noida police on Friday said Hindi Khabar chief and senior journalist Atul Agarwal had fabricated the story of being mugged for “family reasons”. He had claimed that he was assaulted and looted by assailants in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida Extension on the intervening night of May 19 and 20 (Saturday-Sunday).
महिला मित्र के घर खाने पर गये थे वरिष्ठ पत्रकार और उसके बाद पत्नी का फोन आया और रात Oyo होटल में बिताईं। @noidapolice ने पत्रकार के साथ लूटपाट की घटना को झूठ बताया। pic.twitter.com/0VdvV6KVbG
— Jitender Sharma (@capt_ivane) June 25, 2021
After Atul Agarwal alleged that he was assaulted and looted at gun-point, the Noida police assumed the investigation of the case. In its investigation, Noida police found that the story peddled by Atul Agarwal was concocted and that he was not robbed by assaulters as he had alleged.
The police investigation found that Mr Agarwal had gone for dinner at the house of one of his female friends at around 7 pm on May 19, which was also confirmed by electronic evidence. Agarwal’s female friend confided to the police that he had received a call from his wife, who summoned him to home immediately. Agarwal hastily left his friend’s residence at 10:40 pm to drive back to his residence.
Then at 1:20 am in the night, Atul called up his female friend and informed her that he is roaming on the streets and looking for an OYO room to spend the night. The woman told police Atul did not inform her about any robbery. It was also later proved by electronic evidence that Agarwal paid up for an OYO room through his bank account. The CCTV footage from the facility confirm Agarwal’s presence in the hotel.
“In light of all this evidence, it is proved that there has been no robbery incident with Mr Atul Agarwal and this fake case was spread on social media by him due to his personal family reasons,” the Noida police concluded.
Hindi Khabar chief Atul Agarwal claims he was assaulted and looted at gunpoint in Noida
Earlier this week, journalist Atul Agarwal took to social media to allege that he was mugged and assaulted by a group of assailants in Noida last month. According to the journalist, his life was spared his life after he said assailants that he has a small son to raise.
“The miscreants asked me to withdraw cash from the ATM. I told them that I do not have my ATM card and told them that I could transfer them the money through Paytm. As soon as I said this, the boy behind me started choking and abusing me,” the journalist wrote in his Facebook post.
He also added that the assailants took his phone and also made him unlock it but eventually threw his phone in the backseat after they saw a press sticker on the windscreen of his car and appeared to have recalled him.
“When they took away my phone, I mustered some courage and showed them my card and told them that I am a government-accredited journalist and if they take my phone away they would get tracked in no time. I don’t know what came to her mind, they threw my phone in the backseat and left,” informed Atul Agarwal adding that they threatened him with dire consequences if he spoke about the incident to anyone, and sped off on their bikes.
