The Times of India today published a news article titled ‘How suspended army man pulled off burglaries’. It was about a series of burglaries reported in Delhi in recent weeks. The arrested culprit Dharambir was a previous civilian employee at Military Engineering Services, but TOI reported him as ‘rogue army man’.
The social media handle of the Indian Army which is named for the Additional Directorate General of Public Information ( @adgpi) called out the misleading headline in a tweet.
Wrong heading in news article in Times of India today ‘How Suspended Armyman Pulled Off Burglaries’. Heading has ‘Armyman’ which is wrong. Alleged crime committed by Civil MES employee & not an Army personnel. pic.twitter.com/jJbL07fLd1
— ADG PI – INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) March 22, 2018
The army social media handle pointed out that the arrested suspect Dharambir (54) was a civilian previously working with the MES and he was suspended. He was arrested on Tuesday after a number of burglaries in the Delhi Cantonment area. Two other persons named Deepak alias Prasanjeet and Dheeraj were arrested with him after being intercepted by police in the Dwarka sector 1 area. The TOI report also added that they were inside a Hyundai car with Haryana number plate. They were allegedly taking the stolen goods to their hideout.
Time of India has since changed the article headline to ‘how suspended MES officer pulled off burglaries’ and added a correction regretting their previous error.