Amid the lockdown days, a mysterious giant-sized figure is creating panic among the Keralites. Over the past few days, false stories about a dark-skinned superhuman called 'Black Man', who is said to appear only in the night, have been doing the round on social media. The stories have been circulating with a picture of a shirtless sweaty, tall, tired man sitting inside a car. CCTV images of a tall man walking in the dark were also doing the round with the stories.

These false stories spread fear and anxiety among the public forcing them to step out and going into vigilante mode to catch the superhuman walking around in the night. This has caused a fresh headache to the Kerala police who are trying their best to make people not step out of their homes.

In the press meet held on Tuesday, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayai Vijayan spoke about these rumours on mysterious figures and thieves. He clarified that there is no superhuman called 'Black Man' and that the police force will go into the roots of such fake news and those who spread such news will face strict action.

In search of 'Black man', 6 arrested for violating lockdown

With the rumours on social media platforms about the presence of a ‘Blackman’, in a local area of Thrissur, the residents there became a vigilante and were panicked. On Sunday night, people stepped out of the house in search of the 'Blackman' and 6 people were arrested for violating the lockdown norms. They were later given bail.

Who is this person in the picture?

The man in the photo is Banath Pullara, an international tug of war player from Manjeri in Malappuram district. Only recently, Banath was aware of the rumours spreading on social media with his picture, that was taken long back before a competition. Banath says that he came to know about the incident after a friend called up and informed. He says even his elderly mom questioned him if he had committed robberies on the pretext of going to competitions. Banath is said to have filed a police complaint on the incident.