On Thursday, a high alert was sounded in Mumbai and adjoining areas after two schoolchildren reported that they saw suspicious people in the Uran area. While one of the kids told his school principal about one man, while the other said she saw 5-6 men in black pathani suits wearing masks and backpacks. 

Soon, the Navy, Coast Guard, Intelligence Bureau, National Security Guard (NSG), Force One, Coastal Police, Anti-Terrorism Squad, Crime Branch, Quick Response Team, Home Guards, Navi Mumbai Police, Mumbai Police and Thane Police all jumped into action. Shortly, the Maharashtra government released sketches of some of the terror suspects that looked like this:

An Odisha news daily called Sambad reported about the incident and carried a sketch. However, it looked nothing like what Mumbai security agencies had released.

Here is a closer look:

Does the sketch look eerily similar to journalist Rajdeep Sardesai? It did to many. In fact, Sardesai himself stepped in to report about it.

He blamed ‘bhakts’ for it. While it prima facie appears to be a mischief, it’s not yet clear as to how the daily decided to carry it.

The newspaper apologised to him for the error on Twitter, which Rajdeep accepted, expressing his wish that the paper carried the apology as prominently as the false report.

The newspaper did the needful.

(Feature image source: Twitter)