An unrelated video of two Hindu migrant labourers in Alipurduar, West Bengal, being accosted and accused of disguising themselves as Muslim is being falsely linked to the recent violence in Murshidabad.
BOOM found that the video is not from Murshidabad. We reached out to Alipurduar Police, who confirmed that the incident took place in March, when two Hindu migrant labourers from Bihar were interrogated by a crowd and accused of disguising themselves as Muslims to beg during Ramzan
West Bengal's Murshidabad remains tense after unrest in the district since April 8, 2025, after protests erupted against the recently passed Waqf Act. Communal clashes in the district left three dead, dozens injured, and over 200 people arrested.
The viral video shows two men in skull caps being interrogated by a crowd after which they admit that they are Hindus from Bihar disguised as Muslims. This is being shared on social media linking it to the Murshidabad violence.
Visuals from the incident are being posted on X with the caption, "Two Hindu youths from Bihar wearing caps have been caught in Murshidabad, West Bengal. The local people caught them, both of them had reached there with the intention of spoiling the atmosphere"
Click here to view, and here for an archive.
A Bangla newspaper clipping from Khabar 365 Din with photos from the same incident was also posted by TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose with the caption linking it to Murshidabad. The caption read, "EXPOSED. Hindu youths from Bihar dressed as Muslims, swarm into Bengal. #Mursidabad . Who is bringing them in?"
Click here to view, and here for an archive.
The video of the incident is also being shared with the same false claim on Instagram
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the incident in the viral video of two men in skull caps being interrogated and accused of disguising themselves as Muslims pre-dates the violence in Murshidabad and is being falsely linked to it.
We broke the video into key-frames and ran a reverse image search which search results showed that the same video was viral in March 2025, stating that the incident is from Alipurduar, West Bengal.
The caption of the Facebook post when translated from Bangla to English reads, "Hindu gutkhas from Bihar have come to Alipurduar disguised as Muslims to create trouble. Can you imagine? Gutkhas can do anything. want gutkha-free Bengal."
Taking a cue from this, BOOM then reached out to Alipurduar Police, who confirmed that the video is indeed from Alipurduar and that the incident occurred in March 2025.
"The video shows an incident that happened under Falakata Police Station in March 2025. The two youths were poor Hindu migrant labourers from Bihar. They came to a Muslim-dominated area and disguised themselves as Muslims to beg during the month of Ramzan to earn some money and food. They were caught after locals suspected and interrogated them," Alipurduar Police told BOOM.
