In Puranpur, a rural tehsil in Pilibhit district, 45-year-old Bhurey Singh now stands on nightly vigil with a flashlight strapped to his bicycle and a thick wooden stick in hand. Hired two weeks ago by local residents, he serves as the village's "sky sentry".
“They say thieves are using drones to plan robberies,” Mr. Bhurey told PTI. “Whether it’s true or not, we can’t take any chances.”
His nightly patrol reflects a wave of fear spreading across more than 300 villages in at least a dozen districts of western Uttar Pradesh — from the forest edges of Pilibhit to the urban sprawl of Ghaziabad.
Since mid-July, cries of "Drone chor!" have echoed through village lanes at night, replacing the usual silence of the countryside. Shadows dart across rooftops, wooden lathis are clutched tightly, and families stay awake long past midnight in fear of unseen threats from above.
Villagers speak in hushed tones of mysterious drones flying after dark — allegedly scouting rooftops and identifying weak entry points. In many communities, drones have become ghosts in the sky. Sometimes real. Often imagined. Always feared.
