Did BJP MLA Anil Upadhyay Sexually Assault A Truck Driver? A FactCheck

A disturbing video of a man being brutally beaten and sexually assaulted is being shared on social media with a false claim that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Anil Upadhyay is the one assaulting him.

The 50-second shows a man stripped of his clothes hanging upside down from a rope surrounded by a group of people. A man in a shirt is seen holding a metal rod and torturing the victim, while he pleads for them to stop.

Given the nature of the video, BOOM has chosen not to include it in the story.

The video is being shared on Facebook with a caption in Malayalam that translates to, 'What would be Modis comment on this brutal act of BJP MLA Anil Upadhyay?'

(Original text in Malayalam - B.j.p. എം‌എൽ‌എ അനിൽ ഉപാധ്യായയുടെ ഈ പ്രവൃത്തിയെക്കുറിച്ച് മോദി എന്ത് പറയും)

The video is also being shared on Facebook with the same caption in Hindi.

FACT CHECK

BOOM ran a reverse image search on the key frames with keywords, 'Rod Inserted In victim's private parts India' and found news reports from July 2019. We found that the video is from an incident in Nagpur, Maharashtra when a 23-year-old driver was beaten and sexually assaulted by the owner of the transport company where he was employed.

According to a July 29 report published in Times Of India, the video was shot in the office of Andhra-Karnataka transport company. The company owner Akhil Pohankar and his aides beat up the victim for allegedly misusing Rs 30,000 given to the victim to buy clothing and food.

Dainik Bhaskar reported that Wadi police arrested Akhil Pohankar and his aide Amit Thakre the same.

Several pieces of misinformation and fake news have been shared using the name of the fictional MLA Anil Upadhyay. Read here and here. While the some of the fake news brigade claimed Upadhyay was a BJP MLA, the rest claimed he was with Congress. Interestingly, BOOM found that Upadhyay was a fictional character, with no record of him in either political party.

ALSO READ : Meet Anil Upadhyay, A Fictional Politician Made Up By India’s Fake News Brigade