The report showed that students were staying in the madrasas amid the nationwide lockdown. It also had at least one teacher accepting that he had bribed the police to keep them at bay.

India Today’s theory: the three caretakers deliberately kept students in their madrasas in cramped spaces, violating all lockdown guidelines, and hiding the students from the police. The channel claimed the caretakers had links with the Tablighi Jamaat – whose congregation in Delhi’s Nizamuddin last month has been blamed by the Indian media for causing a spurt in coronavirus cases – and, therefore, were risking the lives of the children.

Newslaundry spoke with the three men stung by Kanwal as well as Delhi police officials to ascertain the facts. Two of the men, Mohammad Jabir Qasmi of Madrasa Islahul Mumineer and Mufti Mohammad Shaique of Madrasa Jamia Mohammadia Haldoni, agreed to speak on record. But Abdul Hafeez of Madrasa Darul-ul-Uloom Usmania was wary of the media and worried for the students in his charge. So, he refused to comment.

Let’s break down the India Today “investigation”.

Why are children staying in these madrasas during the lockdown? Are they violating the lockdown guidelines?

One of the key questions that isn’t answered by Kanwal’s sting, and his monologue, is this: where are the children staying in these madrasas from?

Both Jabir and Shaique told Newslaundry that their students are from Bihar. It is an important detail that India Today left out: that these children couldn’t go back home once the lockdown was imposed.

“Students were supposed to go back home on April 11. Their tickets were booked. But they couldn’t go back because of the lockdown,” Jabir explained.

Shaique, who is himself from Bihar, offered the same explanation: “If there’s a school that is breaking for vacation on April 1 and all of a sudden there’s restriction on travel, how are kids supposed to go back home?”