Still days after mass panic over rumors that over 800 individuals had disappeared in the city of Delhi during the first few weeks of 2026, the Delhi Police has come out to explain the story being shared on the Internet as misconstrued and exaggerated intentionally to generate panic. Authorities have called the allegations untrue fear-mongering, which has supposedly been fueled by paid social media adverts.
Reacting to the exaggerated reports of the surge in missing girls, the head of X quoted on Monday morning, the Delhi Police said that preliminary investigations had shown that there was artificial inflation of such reports to gain monetary benefits. On pursuing some leads, we found that the hype on the increase of missing girls in Delhi is being sold using paid promotion. Any attempts to create panic with financial interests will not be accepted and the perpetrators will be dealt with so hard, the statement added.
The law enforcers cautioned that sharing unverified or misrepresented news about sensitive matters like kidnappings and murders may be disastrous. According to officials, fear-mongering may cause great damage to the mental health of the population, as it causes anxiety, stress, and depression, in addition to causing long-term psychological distress. Repeated exposure to frightening stories, they said, can contribute to irrational fears, catastrophising, sleeping disorders and even to physical health problems.
As cited on the Press Trust of India, 807 cases of missing of people were reported in January 1-15, 2026 an average of 54 cases per day. These included 509 women and girls, 298 men, 191 children and 616 adults. Nevertheless, police explained that, although these numbers are true, the number of missing persons in January 2026 registered a decrease compared to the cases in the same month in the past years.
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