Fact Check: Netizens shared scripted video of child abduction considering it to be real

A video showing child's kidnapping is making rounds on social media. But a probe has revealed that the abduction video is scripted.

A video purportedly capturing a child's abduction has gone viral on social media. The footage shows a kid being abducted by a woman while her mother is busy negotiating with an autorickshaw driver.

The abductor flees with the child by the time the mother, who is mute, is alerted by the team recording the video. Soon, they chase down the kidnapper, beat her in the process and hand over the child back to her mother.

The five-minute-long video, posted from a Facebook page named Vikas News Anand, was viewed more than 5 million times and was shared by more than 11 thousand users. It had a caption in Gujarati that roughly translates to, "Child kidnapper was caught red-handed."

The India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) investigation has found that the abduction video was scripted. Originally, it was posted on a YouTube channel for entertainment purposes.

A reverse-search of the video's screen grabs led us to a Facebook page named Ankur Jatuskaran. Here, we found the same video posted on June 7. But the duration of this one was about eight minutes.