A video of a cop being assaulted in Delhi has been revived with false communal claims on social media.
The video shows two men assaulting a policeman by raining blows and slaps on him. The assaulters hurl abuses at the cop, who can be heard saying, "Whatever you are doing, is not right".
The video is doing the rounds with claims that he was attacked by Muslims for asking them to keep COVID-19 infected people in their prayers during the holy month of Ramzan. The video has surfaced amid the second wave of COVID-19. According to latest figures amidst partial lockdowns in most states, and the continuing surge of infections, lack of availability of oxygen supplies, medical aid and vaccines. BOOM found that the video is from Delhi.
The same video was earlier viral on social media with a political narrative that stated that the assaulter belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party. We had then reached out to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka), Santosh Kumar Meena, who said, "We have no information whether he is connected with the BJP or not. "
BOOM received the video via its tipline with the text: Was this police officer assaulted because he asked muslims to keep covid affected persons in their prayers.
See the video below. Warning: Video contains violence and foul language.
Fact Check
BOOM was able to ascertain that the video is from Delhi. The policeman can be seen wearing a Delhi Police badge few minutes into the video; 'DP' which stands for Delhi Policeis written on the shoulder of the uniform.
BOOM ran a keyword search "Delhi Cop thrashed" and was directed to several news reports about the incident.
The Tribune uploaded the same video on their YouTube channel on April 15, 2021, with the caption, "Video shows man assaulting cop in Delhi, police initiate probe"
According to reports, the incident took place on April 1. The policeman, identified as Sushil, was earlier posted as a Personal Security Officer (PSO) of a property dealer Sanjay Gupta. On April 1, he went to Uttam Nagar where he got into an argument with Gupta's relatives. He was later assaulted by Gupta's younger brother Rinku, a gym owner and his accomplice Kaku. Read more on Indian Express.
According to the police, two cases of extortion were registered by property dealer Sanjay Gupta in 2016 and 2018 respectively after which he was provided the personal security officer.
Further BOOM reached out earlier to Santosh Kumar Meena, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka), who corroborated the event. Meena told BOOM, "A case has been registered in the matter against Rinku, Ashwani and Kaku."
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