For weeks, a rumour has taken hold across several districts in Uttar Pradesh — that gangs are using drones to surveil homes for robberies. Spooked residents have been on the edge, and police are scrambling to contain the panic and quash the false claims. Last Thursday, however, the rumour took a deadly turn in Raebareli when a 38-year-old man was allegedly lynched by villagers who suspected he was a thief, part of the ‘drone chor’ gang. While five people have been arrested in the case, police are adopting a larger three-point strategy to tackle the menace: issuing fresh instructions to implement a 2023 Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on drone usage; launching an awareness drive to urge people not to fall prey to rumours; and identifying drone owners with help from online marketing platforms. “We are undertaking a massive drive across the district (Raebareli). First, we identified drone owners by requesting commercial online platforms to share data on drone sales in the district over the past year. Using this, about 150 drone owners were identified, and approximately 90 drones have been confiscated so far. The process is ongoing to return some of these drones after issuing proper warnings and informing owners about the guidelines. Each drone is being registered at the respective police station,” ASP, Raebareli, Sanjeev Kumar Sinha told The Indian Express. As per the SOP under the Uttar Pradesh Drone Prachalan Suraksha Niti-2023, instructions have been issued to maintain a ‘drone register’ in every police station with details of each owner, who is required to inform the police prior to any public use of the drone. UP Director General of Police Rajeev Krishna said the problem has reduced to a great extent but there are isolated cases. “The ‘theft through drones’ rumour started in Western UP districts such as Bareilly and Meerut. But we adopted a three-point strategy to tackle it: awareness, timely response to such calls, and legal action against those spreading false rumours,” Krishna told The Indian Express. He said instructions have been issued to all to implement the 2023 SOP and hold awareness meetings with gram pradhans and village chaukidars. “While the police are taking corrective measures, I want to state very clearly: not a single case in the entire state is linked to drone theft. All such reports have turned out to be either mischievous or based on fake,” said Krishna. Officials also said investigations into drone theft reports have uncovered several false cases. In one instance, a man spread rumours of a drone theft after allegedly stealing gold from his mother, which was later recovered. In another case, a woman who lost her earnings while visiting a local bazaar blamed a “drone thief,” but it was later revealed that she fabricated the story to avoid being scolded by her family. Superintendent of Police, Raebareli, Yashveer Singh, said they are reaching out to gram pradhans using 25 public address systems mounted on two- and three-wheelers to spread awareness that there is no such thing as a “drone thief”. He said despite this, emergency numbers get calls about ‘drone thief’ sightings. “Another FIR has been lodged in the Mill area, where such fake rumors were being spread,” SP Singh added.
