Image From Munger Clash Last Year Falsely Linked To Rinku Sharma's Death

A disturbing image from the clash that took place in Munger, Bihar during a Durga idol immersion in October last year, is being falsely shared as a photo of Rinku Sharma - a youth who was killed recently in Delhi's Mangolpuri area, and his mother.

The photo shows a woman grieving her son with his body in her lap. The youth appears to be grievously wounded with blood visible on his clothes.

BOOM found that the picture actually shows 18-year-old Anurag Poddar's body and his mother Poonam Devi. The picture was captured in Munger, Bihar, last year when a clash had erupted over the delay of the "Badi Ma Durga" idol immersion in the district which led to stone pelting and Bihar Police opening fire.

In an unrelated incident, 25-year-old Rinku Sharma was stabbed to death in Mangolpuri, Delhi on the night of February 10 by a group of Muslim men from the same neighbourhood. Delhi police has arrested five accused - Islam, Tazuddin, Nasruddin, Mehtab, and Zahid, so far. His death has angered and galvanized right wing groups in India.

Also Read:Rinku Sharma Murder Case: What We Know So Far

The incident in Bihar and Delhi are unrelated. However, social media users have shared the image from Bihar with captions such as: "Tears of a Mother...The Debt on the Soul of Nation. #RinkuSharma Folded hands #JusticeForRinkuSharma #Justice4RamBhaktRinku #JusticeForRinku"

See the posts below and their archived versions are available here and here.

Many social media users are sharing an original photo of Rinku Sharma's mother with that of Munger victim's picture. See here.

Also Read:Activist Disha Ravi Sent To Five Day Police Custody In 'Toolkit' Case

Fact Check

BOOM was able ascertain that the viral image is not related to the recent murder of Rinku Sharma. The incident had occurred in Munger, Bihar on October 26, 2020. We ran a reverse image search and found many Twitter posts from the last week of October 2020 ( here and here) - carrying the same picture which is now viral.

Upon keywords search we did not find any credible publication using the picture in their reports. We, however, found a fact check article by India Today which was published on October 29, 2020. The article was about a hoax claiming after seeing her son's death, Poonam Devi suffered a cardiac arrest and had died. This was fake. Although, the article published the same now-viral-image.

Another picture of Anurag Poddar's mother was published by a Hindi news website Jagran. The woman is seen wearing the same attire as in the viral picture.

What Had Happened In Munger?

In the intervening night of October 26-27, 2020, during a Durga idol emersion procession, a clash erupted between the devotees and Bihar police personnel. In the clash, 1 person was killed and 27 were injured including 20 police personnel. While the people who present at the spot claimed that the police opened fired, police alleged that the devotees participating in the Durga immersion procession had fired at them.