When contacted by Newslaundry, a senior officer in the Ayodhya police department said, on the condition of anonymity, that he was unaware of the matter. “If that has happened, it was surprising considering the importance of the message. I will have to look into it before commenting further."

Fake news and rumours targeting Muslims have been abundant ever since the Tablighi Jamaat made news for its controversial gathering in Delhi last month. Across states, hundreds of cases of the novel coronavirus have been traced to the religious congregation that was held in the middle of March. This has been used an opportunity by many to target the minority community of indulging in a conspiracy to spread the disease in India.

The smear campaign has, however, not been limited to social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook and TikTok. Several media houses have also carried unverified news reports, adding to communal tension in these difficult times. Uttar Pradesh, especially, has been a hotbed of fake news accusing Muslims of deliberately spreading the virus.

Accordingly, the state’s police department has been vigilant in debunking such misinformation. Recently, police departments in different districts called out Zee News , wire agency ANI and Amar Ujala newspaper for publishing fake news.

While the reasons for deleting the tweet are unclear as of now, it is possible that the mention of Alt News alerted officers at the higher level. Alt News, on many occasions in the past, has debunked fake news peddled by leaders of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party.