Claim: According to a Geo News bulletin, a member of the Peshawar Tiger Force hid eight protesters in his house and later called the police on them to collect 16 lakhs in reward money.
Fact: Geo News did not publish this bulletin.
On 15 May 2023, an image of a Geo News bulletin went viral on social media. According to this image, a member of the Peshawar Tiger Force hid eight protestors in his house and at night, he colluded with the police to get them arrested. As a result, he was given a reward of 16 lakh rupees. The image also included a government ad showing the faces of all the protesters and the announcement that if anyone helps in their arrest, the government will give them 2 lakh rupees in reward.
Earlier, the Punjab Home Department announced a 200,000 PKR reward to anyone who would help the authorities crack down on people who were allegedly involved in an attack on the Corps Commander House in Lahore on 9 May 2023, after PTI chairman Imran Khan was arrested. The Punjab Home Department’s announcement contained several images of civilians, including women and children.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check found this claim to be false. We went through Geo News Urdu’s social media handles as well as their website to look for any posts containing the terms:
“پیشاور ٹائگر فورس”
“اںعام”, and
“پولیس”
But we found no evidence of this bulletin having been shared by the publication.
Additionally, Geo News Urdu’s digital editor Manzar Elahi posted a tweet confirming that this bulletin was doctored.. In the caption, he wrote, “FAKE NEWS ALERT: Geo News did not report or share this story. This photo/story being spread on social media is FAKE! #GeoNews #ImranKhanArrest #PTI”
Virality
On Facebook, we found that the claim was shared here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: The viral Geo News bulletin claiming that a member of the Tiger Force helped the police in arresting eight protesters is fake.