Fact-check: Viral video claiming seizure of arms, ammunition from militants in Manipur is misleading
A video showing a large cache of arms, ammunition and cash laid out on the ground has been circulating on social media, with claims that the haul was recovered by the Indian Army during a raid against militants in Manipur. However, a fact-check by Alt News has found these claims to be false.
The video was widely shared on X by several users. One such post by an account named @TIgerNS3 on June 10 claimed that the Indian armed forces had recovered “big stocks of guns, arms and ammunition with huge money from anti-liberation social elements of Manipur”, tagging the alleged militants as “Kuki terrorists”. Another user, Jitendra Pratap Singh (@jpsin1), shared the same video earlier with a caption suggesting that it showed a major arms recovery by the Indian Army in Manipur.
Alt News, while verifying the video, noted a crucial visual detail. The men seen in camouflage uniforms in the clip were wearing insignia marked “BNRA”. BNRA stands for the Burma National Revolutionary Army, a relatively new armed group in Myanmar that was formed on September 9, 2023. Alt News compared the insignia visible in the viral video with images posted on the official Facebook page of the BNRA and found them to be identical, confirming that the armed men in the video belong to the Myanmar-based group.
Further examination of the video revealed the presence of a flag with blue, red and green colours and a white circle at its centre. A reverse image search identified this as the flag of the Chin National Defence Force (CNDF), the armed wing of the Chin National Organisation, a rebel group operating in Myanmar’s Chin State, which borders India’s Manipur.
Alt News also traced the origin of the video through reverse image searches of its keyframes. This led to a Facebook post dated April 24, where the same video was shared with a caption written in the Mizo language. The caption roughly translates to a claim that a group referred to as the “CB group”, likely the Chin Brotherhood, had defeated forces in Falam village and seized weapons and money.
Digging deeper, Alt News found that the video had earlier been published by Myanmar-based media outlet Khit Thit Media on April 10. According to the Burmese-language caption accompanying the clip, the video showed weapons and ammunition seized after the capture of Falam township in Chin State on April 9 during fighting against Myanmar’s military council. Several other Myanmar-based news outlets had also reported on the same development.
Based on these findings, Alt News concluded that the viral video has no connection to Manipur or any operation by the Indian Army. The footage is from Myanmar and depicts arms seized by rebel groups during clashes in Chin State. Claims circulating on social media linking the video to militant raids in Manipur are false and misleading.
🚨 BIG BREAKING NEWS:
— TIger NS (@TIgerNS3) June 9, 2025
Armed forces Raid reveals In Manipur that Army has recovered a big stocks of guns, arms and amunication with huge money from anti libration social elements of Manipur. #kuki terrorist #kukiTerrorists मणिपुर#Manipur #ManipurViolence pic.twitter.com/Ai3acEM09f
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Can't say when I'll return to India; legally barred from leaving UK: Mallya to Bombay HC
Mumbai (PTI): Fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya, facing multiple cases of fraud and money laundering, told the Bombay High Court on Wednesday that he cannot say when he will return to India as he is legally barred from leaving the UK.
In a statement submitted through his counsel Amit Desai to the high court, Mallya said he did not have an active passport after it was revoked and hence, he cannot give a definite date of return to India.
The statement was submitted after a bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad made it clear last week that it would not hear Mallya's plea against the order declaring a fugitive economic offender until he returns to India.
The court had then asked the former liquor to clarify whether or not he intended to return to India.
Mallya, based in the United Kingdom since 2016, has filed two petitions in the HC -- one challenging an order declaring him a fugitive economic offender and the other questioning the constitutional validity of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.
The 70-year-old liquor baron is accused of defaulting on multiple loan repayments of several thousand crores and facing money laundering charges.
The businessman, in his statement to HC, said he cannot give a definite date for his return as he does not have his Indian passport, which was revoked by the government in 2016, and also because there are orders of courts in England and Wales that prohibit him from leaving the country.
"Mallya is not permitted to leave or attempt to leave England and Wales or apply for or be in possession of any international travel document. In any event, the petitioner is unable to precisely state when he will return to India," Desai read out the statement in the court.
The senior counsel reiterated that Mallya's presence was not required in the country for the court to hear his pleas against the fugitive tag and the provisions of the Act.
"If he (Mallya) were to appear in India, then all these proceedings would be rendered irrelevant as the statute says that once the offender appears in the concerned court of law, then all these orders would be set aside," Desai told the court.
The bench directed the Union government to file its reply to Mallya's statement and posted the matter for further hearing next month.
Mallya was declared a Fugitive Economic Offender in January 2019 by a special court hearing cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The businessman left India in March 2016.
