“They might have made the social media post as a prank,” Basit told Aaj News. “They were not aware of the sensitivity of the matter that people without double checking it would create such hype.”

He landed in trouble when his friends found a video of a street criminal in Karachi.

The criminal in the photo apparently seemed similar to Basit in appearance, so they created a post speculating whether their friend was the thief.

The fact that both people were wearing a similar-looking silver watch added to the speculation. But the prank turned sour as the post went viral, leading to death threats being issued to Basit.

The Karachi boy confined himself to his house and had to cover his face with a mask when leaving the house.

According to police, an application was sent to Mangopir SHO Sarfaraz Awan to pick up the nominated suspects and inspect them. Upon interrogation, they confessed to the police their mistake and submitted an affidavit to the police.

They also recorded a video statement. The counter-narrative helped Basit to get relief, police said.

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While thanking Aaj News for highlighting the issue, he said that the matter was taken up by the higher authorities who arrived at his house and cooperated with him.