A video of a news bulletin of Aaj Tak Digital reporting about the arrest of a domestic help in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad who mixed urine while preparing food for her employers is circulating with false and communal claims that she is a Muslim woman.
The news bulletin shows disturbing visuals of a woman mixing urine in the preparation of the food. The report further stated that the family fell ill after consuming the contaminated food.
BOOM found the communal claims to be false. We reached out to Preeti Garg, Station House Officer (SHO) of Crossings Republic police station in Ghaziabad, who debunked the false claim and told BOOM that the accused is a Hindu woman identified as Reena Devi.
The video has been circulating on X and WhatsApp with the caption identifying the woman as a 'jihadan'. The caption reads, "The Hindu family of Ghaziabad is suffering the fruits of keeping a jihadan maid. Source: AajTak Digital. The maid of the house used to feed her masters food made from flour kneaded with her urine. All the members of the family have liver infection.” (Translated from Hindi)
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The video is also viral on Facebook with the same claim.
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Fact Check: Viral Communal Claim is False
We ran a related keyword search in Google which led us to several news reports about the incident. According to a report by ABP News published on October 17, 2024, the maid identified as Reena Devi worked for a real estate businessman residing in the GH7 society in Ghaziabad. The police arrested Reena Devi following a complaint by the victim's family about her mixing urine in the food she prepared.
Quoting ACP Wave City Lipi Nagaich NDTV reported that Reena Devi had initially denied the allegations. But when confronted with the CCTV footage evidence during interrogation, she confessed to her crimes. Reena Devi was charged under Section 272 of the BNS.
The viral video report was posted by AajTak on X on October 16, with the Hindi caption, “Domestic help (maid) used to mix urine in food. The whole family got sick. The incident was caught on the CCTV camera installed at the house of the master.”
In the report, the accused has been identified as Reena and her religious identity is not revealed.
BOOM then reached out to Preeti Garg, SHO of Crossings Republic Police Station in Ghaziabad, to verify the viral claim. "The name of the woman arrested in this case is Reena Devi. She is a Hindu; the claim of her being a Muslim is absolutely false," Garg told BOOM.
'The Revenge Motive'
According to reports, a real estate businessman's family of the GH7 society in Ghaziabad had been ill with liver issues for a prolonged period. Later, when they suspected their maid Reena, the employer installed CCTV cameras inside his house. The footage from their kitchen showed the maid kneading flour with urine while preparing food. Gautam later informed the police based on the footage.
Reports further stated that Reena confessed to the police that she had been doing this for the past four months to take revenge for being frequently rebuked for committing mistakes at work.