A disturbing video of a criminal being hacked to death in Bengaluru on April 20, 2021 has been falsely linked to the Tripura violence. The video is viral with a Kannada caption which claims that a Muslim man was attacked by Hindus in the state.
The video is viral amidst reports of communal violence in north Tripura. The situation turned volatile in the area, after a protest rally was organised by Viswa Hindu Parishad on October 26, 2021 against the recent riots in Bangladesh. Several houses and shops, including a mosque were reportedly vandalised in Rowa Bazar, a Muslim dominated locality in Panisagar.
Also Read: After Bangladesh, Communal Violence Mars Poll-Bound Tripura
The video which appears to be shot from atop a building shows visuals of assailants attacking the victim with a machete and later stabbing him.
The video has been shared with a caption in Kannada, which translates to, "This is the scene of Sangh Parivar goons attacking Muslim homes with deadly weapons in Tripura. Where are the secular parties and secular people hiding at this hour?"
Discretion: The video is disturbing in nature.
(Original caption in Kannada: "ತ್ರಿಪುರಾದಲ್ಲಿ ಮುಸ್ಲಿಂ ಮನೆಗಳಿಗೆ ನುಗ್ಗಿ ಆಯುಧಗಳೊಂದಿಗೆ ಧಾಳಿ ನಡೆಸುತ್ತಿರುವ ಸಂಘಪರವಾರದ. ದೃಶ್ಯ ಇದು. ಜಾತ್ಯಾತೀತ ರಾಜಕೀಯ ಪಕ್ಷಗಳು, ಮಾನವತಾವಾದಿಗಳು ಎಲ್ಲಿ ಅಡಗಿ ಕೂತಿದ್ದಾರೆ.")
The video is viral on Facebook with the same caption.
Click here to see the video.
Also Read: Photo Of Qurans Burnt In Fire At Delhi Rohingya Camp Viral As Tripura
Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search with the key frames of the video and found the same video uploaded on ETV Bharat English's Facebook page on April 27, 2021. This shows that the incident is much older than the recent Tripura violence.
The video is captioned as, "Rowdy sheeter Ravi Varman Assassination in Cinematic Style. A video of the Rowdy sheeter assassination in Bangalore's Ashoka Nagar area. This video went viral on social media."
Taking cue from this, we ran a keyword search in time frame of April 2021 and found several news reports in English and Kannada about the killing of criminal Ravi Verma alias Appu, who was murdered on April 20, 2021.
On April 26, 2021 ETV Bharat Kannada reported, "A rowdy-sheeter Dinesh and a gang killed criminal Ravi Verma alias Appu, 30, in Vivek Nagar, on Tuesday (April 20, 2021). Ravi Verma, who was murdered, was released from jail just two weeks ago. At about 9 pm on Tuesday night, he went to a shop in Fatima Galli in Rose Garden, near his house. He was attacked with deadly weapons and murdered in a horrific way. Six people were arrested by the police on April 24 in connection with the case. A police officer said, the assailants stabbed him multiple times while he was just a few yards away from his house, and escaped."
Below is a screenshot of the article.
The Hindu reported about the incident on April 22, 2021. Read reports by New Indian Express, TV9 Kannada and Vijayvani.
BOOM has reached out to Ashoknagar Police. The article will be updated when we get a response.