A YouTube-based news channel 'The News Tracker - TNT' released a series of videos claiming a Sadhu at the Maha Kumbh Mela influenced a minor girl to live with him. He made her sit with him alone after taking her away from the crowd.

The Sadhu was said to be a part of the Juna Akhada and was identified as Maharaj Sanjay Giri. "This girl wants to stay with me. I will take care of her", Sadhu Giri said while speaking to the news anchor.

"Did sadhus do a big crime by drugging a girl in Maha Kumbh (in Hindi)?", TNT captioned their news report.

The reporter mentioned that the news team rescued the girl from the Sadhu, whom they believed to be fake, when he was taking her away with him. One of the videos showed the Sadhu claiming that the girl wanted to live with him, so he was walking away with her.

Police deny allegations, register case against two X handles

X users Er Sanjay S Kumar and Adv Nazeen Akhtar shared a short clip from the news video on social media. They claimed that the girl was drugged by the Sadhu at the Maha Kumbh Mela and he tried to misbehave with her.

"Mahaakumbh jaise pavitr aayojan mein ek bachchee ko nasha dekar saadhuon ne kiya ghinauna aparaadh (Sadhus committed a crime by intoxicating a girl during a holy event like Maha Kumbh)", Kumar wrote on X. Similarly, Akhtar also shared the false claim and posted, "Mahaakumbh mein bachchee ko nasha dekar saadhuon ne kar diya bada kaan*da".

However, these allegations were nullified by the police.

Vaibhav Krishna IPS, DIG Kumbh, Prayagraj responded to the incident and registered a case against the two X handles.

A report by ABP News mentioned a criminal case under Section 298 of the BNS and Section 67 of the IT Act was registered against engineer Suraj Kumar and advocate Nazneen Akhtar for posting 'fake news' about Maha Kumbh and its Sadhus.

"@kumbhMelaPolUP sent her back to her family. No such incident happened with her. U r propagating false narrative repeatedly. FIR has been regtd angst u & legal action being ensured", the IPS officer replied to the advocate's post. He also confirmed the girl had travelled to Prayagraj on January 16 without intimating her parents.

Taking note of the TNT news anchor's claims, the Maha Kumbh Police wrote that the matter has been resolved and the girl has been reunited with her parents. A video showed the cops escorting her to the police vehicle to send her off to her house.

More details

Speaking to the reporter, the girl mentioned she hailed from the Bhadohi district of UP and had left her home to attend Maha Kumbh at Prayagraj.

However, after reuniting with her parents, the girl changed her statement and stated she attended the event with one of her relatives (Chacha) but lost his hand in the crowd.