Several media reports on social media are claiming that a woman was gang-raped by 20 men at an industrial unit in Karachi’s Korangi district. The alleged rape occurred at Artistic Milliners, a vertical denim manufacturing company. The hashtag ‘Artistic Milliners Rape Case’ has been trending on Twitter since (Wednesday) morning.

However, the police have denied the news reports.

“Police have checked and verified that no such incident took place,” Deputy Inspector General (DIG) East Muquddus Haider, said while talking to Dawn.

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Police have conducted an inquiry into it. No victim has come forward while the factory management told the police that it was a drive to defame them,” he added.

Police found that a YouTube channel called Dhoom is behind the alleged false propaganda. As per the police, it was an attempt to defame the company.

#BREAKING: After probe no evidence of rape or any such incident found at #ArtisticMilliners premises. Police found a YouTube channel dhoom and Sagir Buledi allegedly behind false propaganda of #ArtisticMillinersRapeCase. pic.twitter.com/6ZJMU4OaDm

— Asad Ali Toor (@AsadAToor) September 7, 2022

Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) has also condemned the fake news. “We reiterate that M/S Artistic Milliners (Pvt) Ltd is a very old and valued member of KATI. It is one of the largest exporters of Pakistan earning precious foreign exchange for Pakistan and enjoying an excellent repute among industries,” read a statement issued by KATI.

According to the police, the alleged video circulating of the woman is actually of a woman found in a park and has no association with the alleged Karachi incident.

After initial investigations police has claimed no rape incident occured in Korangi industrial area or in the factory #artisticmilliners. It claimed that few disgruntled employees of the factory spread fake news on social media #ArtisticMillinnersRapeCase pic.twitter.com/6wBbI0HCWi

— Mubashir Zaidi (@Xadeejournalist) September 7, 2022