Latest update:01 Jan 2026 at 11:41 PM IST

A police officer in UP has gone viral after he claimed his mobile phone was a “machine” proving that a man in Ghaziabad was originally from Bangladesh.

A UP officer has gone viral for claiming to have a machine that can detect a person’s country of origin. (Image: X)

Uttar Pradesh Police has come under fresh criticism after a police officer was seen “scanning” people with a mobile phone to determine their nationality, such as a barcode scanner.

While official documents like passports or Aadhaar are used to determine nationality, UP officer Ajay Sharma was the center of a bizarre video where he was seen using a ‘machine’ which he claimed reveals people’s country of origin.

“Put the machine on the person’s back. This machine shows that you are from Bangladesh,” he was heard saying in a viral video of a man who claimed to be originally from Bihar.

The video was reportedly taken on December 23. News18 has not independently confirmed the authenticity of the video. Sources told NDTV that senior officials have taken note of the video that has gone viral, although the police are yet to officially confirm this.

Responding to the video, the Ghaziabad Police Commissioner said: “In the series of efforts to combat crime, from time to time interrogation/verification of suspected persons is carried out in makeshift settlements/slums. In the same series, Kaushambi Police carried out interrogation/verification procedures, where documents of people were checked to ascertain the truth.”

The video, which went viral, led to a stream of memes and jokes about the policeman’s actions, with people demanding more details about the “mysterious” machine that could be used to declare someone an alien.

“Can this machine also detect corruption committed by police officers during their tenure?” The user scoffed. “If this is true, it shows the extreme lack of professionalism and stupidity of the police who do this,” said another person.

One person commented: “How did you get a machine that detects a person’s nationality just by touching their body? We need to award the Nobel Prize for Science to the Indian who made this type of advanced machine.”

This came after Ghaziabad Police and CRPF conducted search operations in Ghaziabad to look for illegal immigrants. They checked ID cards and interrogated suspicious people in slums.

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