Malappuram (Kerala) | A 36-year-old man was arrested on Thursday for allegedly circulating an old video of a tiger, falsely claiming that it was the big cat recently spotted on an estate in a village in this North Kerala district, police said.

The accused, Jerin Abraham of Manikanamparambil, Karuvarakundu, was taken into custody by Karuvarakundu police following a complaint from the Forest Department.

Jerin had shared the video on his WhatsApp status, claiming to have spotted a tiger near a tea estate in Karuvarakundu, an area known for frequent wildlife-related incidents, police added.

However, during questioning by senior forest officials, he admitted to editing old footage.

The video, later aired by news channels, triggered panic among residents, prompting authorities to register a case against him.

Initially, Jerin claimed he had encountered the tiger at around 11 pm last Saturday while travelling through a rubber plantation near the tea estate in a jeep with a friend.

He stated that he had filmed the big cat on his mobile phone when he noticed it remained calm.

He also claimed that the area was uninhabited and that he had zoomed in on the tiger from a distance, according to TV reports.

However, a Forest Department investigation exposed his claim as false.

Officials found that the edited video had originally been uploaded to YouTube three years ago.

Further verification revealed that there was no tiger footprints or CCTV evidence to confirm Jerin's claim.

When confronted with these findings, he eventually confessed to fabricating the video.

"His arrest was recorded under charges of triggering public panic and misleading the officials engaged in emergency services in the area," said a senior police officer.

His mobile phone has been seized, police said, adding that the accused will be produced in court today.