Govt. Taken Over Kashmir Masjids, Lethal Weapons Seize: Fact Check

Story:

The central government has taken custody of all the Kashmir masjids… see yourself, why Masjids are taken into custody after lethal weapons seize.
Supposed to be holy sites for spiritual purposes.
Look at the Armoury in Masjid swords, rifles, machine guns.

Image about Govt. Taken Over Kashmir Masjids, Lethal Weapons Seize

Fact Check:

Various stories in circulation on social media claim the Central Government of India has taken over the custody of all Kashmir Masjids after seizing lethal weapons. Accompanying pictures show lethal guns, swords and a group of Muslim men allegedly arrested in the cases. No, the claims are not true.

The central gov't has taken custody of all the masjids in Kashmir. pic.twitter.com/BuqT9sH9B1
— tikam nariani (@tikam53) August 6, 2019

Police Did Not Seize Weapons from Kashmir Masjids

Although the aforementioned stories are circulating on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, there are no reports of any such real incident. As a matter of fact, the picture(s) showing arrest of Muslim men comes from a different incident in late July 2019. Shamli district Police of Uttar Pradesh arrested four Myanmar citizens and others in cases related to staying illegally and possessing fake identity documents. Police in fact arrested two of the foreigners from outside a Madrasa and two others from Khushnuma colony close to the Madrasa. Shamli Police also reported about the arrest on their official Twitter account.

शामली पुलिस ने 04 विदेशियों व तीन विभिन्न मदरसों से संबंधित 03 नफर मोहतमिम/मदरसा संचालक समेंत 07 संदिग्ध किये गिरफ्तार,नाजायज दस्तावेज,देशी-विदेशी मुद्रा समेत कई मोबाईल फोन बरामद। @Uppolice @policenewsup @adgzonemeerut @digsaharanpur pic.twitter.com/BeCYFbbZi3
— Shamli Police (@shamlipolice) July 29, 2019

On the other hand, the pictures of lethal weapons including swords and knives also appeared on social media earlier saying they are captured from a Temple. To clarify, they were not found in any Masjid/Mosque or Temple.

Image of Weapons seized from a novelty store of a hotel in Rajkot, Gujarat in March 2016 — Weapons seized from a novelty store of a hotel in Rajkot, Gujarat in March 2016

Local media outlet Gujarat Headline website gujaratheadline.com reported the incident. Police rather seized the lethal swords and knives from a novelty store of a Hotel in Kuchiadad, Rajkot. This incident is also old one, from March 2016. The other picture showing Guns is again old one from at least March 2019. Unlike the claims, it appeared on Image sharing websites – as a Gun collection.

So, the claims about Central Government of India taking over the custody of all Kashmir Masjids after seizing lethal weapons are just hoaxes. Post Jammu and Kashmir bifurcation, the old pictures appeared on social media with the fabricated story.