'No info if he is same person we deported', Nagpur Police on viral photos of rifle-wielding man in Afghanistan

Aug 21, 2021

Nagpur (Maharashtra) [India], August 21 : As photographs of a man wielding a rifle in Afghanistan, surfaced on social media recently several netizens remarked on the striking resemblance to an Afghan national who had been deported two months ago after being found to be living in Nagpur illegally.
Social media users speculated that the man had joined the Taliban, who have taken control of Afghanistan after a drawdown of US-led forces from the country.
Nagpur Police, however, said that based on the photographs alone, the man cannot be identified as one Noor Mohammad, an Afghan national who had been living in Nagpur before he was arrested and deported.
The image circulating online shows a man wearing a black turban and a cartridge belt and clutching a rifle Some people even speculated that the Afghan national had joined the Taliban.
Speaking to ANI, Nagpur Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said, "Two months ago we arrested one Afghan national for living in Nagpur without documents and deported him to Afghanistan. Now, we have seen viral pictures of a man with a rifle. We do not have any information about what he is doing there and if he is the same person in the viral image."
He further said that Mohammad had bullet injuries on his body, however, there is no information on him being associated with the Taliban.
"We had not noticed any illegal activity by him in the country or in our city," added the police commissioner.
Meanwhile, the Taliban has seized control of Afghanistan's capital city Kabul. There is a chaotic situation in the country as people are attempting to flee after the takeover. Several countries including India have sent flights to evacuate their nationals from Afghanistan.