A video from Maharashtra of policemen thrashing a man for allegedly creating a creating ruckus insde the Intensive Care Unit of a hospital is being shared with the false claim that he is an ambulance driver being beaten for disconnecting oxygen supplies to patients in a bid to earn more by transporting dead bodies in his ambulance.
In the viral video, a group of five policemen are seen lathi-charging a man at a hospital.
BOOM found that the viral clip is from Deepak Hospital in Jalna, Maharashtra, where Shivraj Nariyalwale, a local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker was beaten by the police for being part of a group who allegedly vandalised the hospital's ICU unit following the death of a patient.
Prashant Mahajan, inspector, Jalna Police who was present during the incident, confirmed to BOOM that the video is from April 9, 2021, after a police team rushed to Deepak hospital to disperse a group of youth who allegedly barged into the ICU. Mahajan said that an altercation occured and they lathi-charged Nariyalwale. PI Mahajan dismissed the claim viral on WhatsApp that Nariyalwale was an ambulance driver and was beaten for disconnecting oxygen supply in the hospital as to transport dead bodies.
The viral clip is being shared with the caption, "Man caught red handed when he was cutting of oxygen supplies from cylinders in nursing room beacuse he was paid more for transporting dead bodies in his ambulance."
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On searching with the same caption on Facebook, we found that the viral clip is being shared with the false claim
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral clip is from Jalna, Maharashtra, where Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Jalna youth secretary Shivraj Nariyalwale was beaten by police officers at Deepak Hospital on April 9, 2021, while they attempted to disperse a group for allegedly ransacking the ICU of the hospital following the death of a patient.
A relevant keyword search we found news reports that the incident is from Deepak Hospital in Jalna, where BJP worker Nariyalwale as seen in the viral clip was beaten up by the police. A 26-year old gym owner Darshan Dewawale was seriously injured in an accident and was admitted to Deepak hospital, where he died on April 9, 2021, after which Nariyalwale along with his supporters had allegedly ransacked the hospital ICU, which also had COVID-19 patients reported Times Of India.
Five police officials as seen in the viral video, which includes - a police sub-inspector and four constables were suspended after the clip surfaced on social media on May 28, 2021. This was after a preliminary investigation report into the incident which found that excessive force was used.
BOOM then reached out to Jalna Police who dismissed the claim that Nariyalwale was an ambulance driver and was beaten because he had disconnected oxygen supplies to patients as he was being paid money to transport dead bodies.
"There was an incident of vandalisation at Deepak Hospital after a youth named Darshan Dewawale, who was seriously injured in an accident and was admitted to the ICU had succumbed to his injuries on April 9, 2021. After that, a group of people had started vandalising the ICU unit where there were around 70 COVID-19 patients also admitted.The control room called the police to disperse the crowd and we had to resort to lathi-charge to bring the situation under control. During this action even Nariyalwale was lathi-charged," said senior inspector Prashant Mahajan, Jalna Police who was also present at the spot.
PI Mahajan rubbished the claim that Nariyalwale was an ambulance driver beaten by the police for disconnecting oxygen supply, so as to transport dead bodies, "This claim going around is false, he (Nariyalwale) is not associated with the hospital and is not an ambulance driver, this is a rumour," said PI Mahajan.
In this Lokmat video report, Nariyalwale clearly states that he is a BJP worker who had gone to the hospital following the death of a patient from his community.
"That day i had gone there for some personal work and after a youth from our community had passed away due to an accident. After going there I heard that the police officials had used abusive language for people from our community. I could not bear this and started recording a video to identify the police abusing, a police officer saw me recording and took away my mobile, after which they started beating me up and abusing me....," alleges Nariyalwale. (From 2.43 seconds timestamp)