Delhi police said they have arrested 40 people in connection with riot-related rumours that had spread in parts of the national capital on Sunday evening, when the department received 1,880 distress calls from people panicked by the false alarm of communal violence.
The maximum 481 calls to police control room (PCR) came from West Delhi, 413 from South East Delhi, 310 from Dwarka and 127 from South Delhi, while only two distress calls were made from North East Delhi, the area where the riots broke out last week, the police said in a statement.
There were 222 calls from outer Delhi, 168 from Rohini, 22 from outer North, 54 from North West Delhi, while there were 35 such calls from central Delhi, six each from North Delhi and East Delhi, and four from Shahdara, it added. Another 30 calls were made from South West Delhi.
All these calls were made between 7pm and 9pm on Sunday, said Delhi police PRO M S Randhawa.
Earlier Monday, senior police officials had put the distress call figure at over 3,000, saying police stations and officials also got several calls directly from citizens panicked by the rumours.
"Twenty-one people were arrested in North West Delhi, 18 in South Delhi and one in Rohini," the police said about the action they took following the rumours.
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At least 42 people have died in the riots last week. On Sunday evening, as the rumours of another round of violence spread, police assured the people that senior officials were camping on the ground and urged people to not panic and took to social media to quell the hoax.
"Some unsubstantiated reports of tense situation in SouthEast & West District are being circulated on social media. It is to reiterate that these are all rumours. Don't pay attention to such rumours," the Delhi police tweeted.
The police said it was closely monitoring social media accounts spreading fake news or rumours and action will be taken against them.
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