No need for police - This is the punishment for the clothes thief: The truth of the video is revealed

A video showing a person being hung from a tree and punished for a clothes theft incident circulated rapidly on social media in recent days. Katunayake Police have revealed that it was not a real incident but a planned act by three individuals to create a TikTok video.

Police investigations have confirmed that the person shown being punished in the video was not forcibly hung, but rather came voluntarily with the intention of obtaining a bottle of alcohol and tied his own feet with a rope he brought himself.

The 39-year-old man involved in the incident, dressed in a red T-shirt, has been identified as a resident of Adiyambalama, Kovinna area. Police have found that he was the person in charge of the house's security when the homeowner and others left for a three-day trip to the Anuradhapura area.

After returning from the trip on the night of the 26th, the homeowner, a 22-year-old neighbor, and this individual held an alcohol party in a boarding room near the house. When they ran out of alcohol, the homeowner challenged them, saying, "If you hang by your feet, I'll give you a bottle of alcohol," which led to this incident.

The person who accepted the challenge brought a rope from the well and tied it to his feet. Afterwards, the homeowner, using that rope, hung him from a branch of a mango tree, and they agreed to create this as a TikTok video.

Police investigations further revealed that the video was then released on social media with the caption ‘This is the punishment for thieves who stole clothes from the shop - Police not involved,’ and afterwards, they left the location in a van.