The following stories were taken from Google's cache of the now-offline midday.chalomumbai.com, which seemed to be the only sources of online information about the Pakanna incidents of March 2001.

‘Devil’ raises hell in Lucknow

By Vinay Krishna Rastogi

LUCKNOW, March 2
A SIGNIFICANT section of the people in Lucknow living on the fringes of the city are being haunted by a devil called Pakanna which supposedly takes out eyes and kidneys.

The magistracy and the police are having a tough time curbing the rumours. People residing in Chinhat are so scared of Pakanna that they have become suspicious of strangers. Similar is the situation in a dozen villages on the Lucknow-Barabanki and the Lucknow-Sitapur borders. Many beggars and innocent citizens have been badly beaten up during the last few days for being the elusive Pakanna.

Due to Pakanna’s fear, attendance in primary schools has fallen considerably in suburban areas. People even don’t allow their children to go out of their homes.

Meanwhile, the principal home secretary has directed the Lucknow district magistrate to take stringent action against rumour-mongers.

Cops grope in the dark as ‘Pakanna’ haunts Lucknow

By Vinay Krishna Rastogi

LUCKNOW, March 6
WITH over 30 persons battered in Lucknow for being ‘Pakanna’, the ‘devil who gouges out the eyes and kidneys of his victims’, the Uttar Pradesh Government is planning to arrest rumour-mongers under the National Security Act (NSA). Almost every day innocent people are being beaten up and many have sustained serious injuries. Lucknow’s Senior Police Superintendent Brij Bhushan Bakshi said no such person exists.

“We have sought permission of the government to arrest rumour mongers under NSA,” said Bakshi.

Last weekend, Mukesh Kumar, a youth who had gone to meet his friend in Vikasnagar Colony, was surrounded by a group of men who asked his address. Upon learning that he is not a resident of Vikasnagar, they beat Mukesh badly and forced the police to arrest him for making an attempt to lift a 6-year-old child. In yet another case, rumours spread at a school near Bazar Khala Idgah that five children were missing. Later it was found that no child was missing.

About 30 such cases have come to light so far.