A video by self-proclaimed sadhu Narsingh Vani from Uttar Pradesh making false communal claims about the recent gang rape and murder of Telangana veterinary doctor which led to the arrest of four people is viral. Vani claims three of the four arrested accused namely Shiva, Naveen and Chennakeshavulu are minors from the Muslim community and the police have given them false Hindu identities.
On November 28, the charred body of a 26-year-old veterinary doctor from Telangana was found, gang-raped and suffocated to death, hours after she went missing on the night of Novermber 27. The incident caused outrage across the country and led to the arrest of four people - Mohammed Areef, Jollu Shiva, Jollu Naveen and Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu.
Vani's false claims are in line with the communal spin given to the incident by several right-leaning Twitter handles and websites which highlighted only the name of the accused Mohammed, claiming the perpetrator is a Muslim. The communal angle to the gruesome incident were given by Twitter users like Mahesh Hegde, founder of Postcard and Suresh Chavhanke, founder of Sudarshan News who insinuated that the police had wrongfully arrested the three accused who are Hindus. Right leaning news outlets Swarajya only mentioned the name of one accused - Mohammed.
On December 2, Vani posted a video on his Facebook page Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, claiming that all the four accused in the rape case were Muslims but three of them had been given "a Hindu identity by the government"
In the video Vani claims that the "police arrested four accused of which three were minors". He goes on to say that, "since the accused are minors they have been given false identities". Vani then continues making false claims by saying, "The truth is that the three are muslim and they have been given Hindu names to protect the evils in Islam and to insult Hindus." He then asks "Hindus of the country to wake up" and asks the government to "take strict action" against such an act of "insulting Hinduism".
Vani who also goes by the name Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati is a Ghaziabad based self-proclaimed sadhu. He is the chief priest of the Dasna Devi temple in Ghaziabad.
The video quickly went viral on Twitter and Facebook and WhatsApp and BOOM received it on its helpline.
The same allegation was made by other Twitter handles who claimed that the three accused - Shiva, Naveen, Chennakeshava were minors.
FACT CHECK
BOOM found details about the accused and the incident in a press conference held by the Cyberabad police on November 29, hours after the arrests.
In the press statement released by the Cyberabad police, the names of the accused- Mohammed alias Areef, Jollu Shiva, Jollu Naveen, Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu - and their ages were mentioned.
BOOM was able to access a copy of the press statement wherein the Cyberabad police state, "Based on the confession of the accused and the evidence collected, it is revealed that the following four persons were involved in the crime:
"A-1 Mohammed @ Areef son of Hussain Age 26 years
A-2 Jollu Shiva, son of Rajappa Age Approx 20 years
A-3 Jollu Naveen son of Yalappa Age : Approx 20 years
A-4 Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu Age : Approx 20 years"
The press statement released by the Cyberabad police with details of the accused
In addition to this, we found several news reports where the family of the accused were interviewed. News organisation The Quint interviewed the family of all four accused including the families of Shiva, Naveen and Chennakeshavulu.
The details provided by the families about their names match with the details released by the Cyberabad police including the names of the father's of the accused.
BOOM also contacted VC Sajjanar who denied that the arrested accused Shiva, Naveen and Chennakeshavulu are minors.