A viral video showing a mob viciously attack a group of young men is viral on social media with captions falsely claiming that the men being attacked in the clip are the same who had assaulted and cut off the beard of an old Muslim man in Loni, Uttar Pradesh.
BOOM found that the viral video shows an incident from Delhi's Jahangirpuri area where local residents had attacked the men for allegedly extorting money. The viral clip is not connected to a June 5 incident in Loni, UP wherein a group of people had attacked and cut off the beard of a septuagenarian Muslim man Abdul Samad Saifi. A mute video of the incident was widely shared on Facebook and Twitter claiming a communal angle in the incident.
BOOM had reached out to Ghaziabad police who confirmed that the incident is from Hazipur Bheta in the district and that three people have been arrested for the same. The police had booked six people - Parvesh Gujjar, Kallu Gujjar, Himanshu, Adil, Aarif and Mushahid, all residents of the area. Investigation has led to the arrest of three - Parvesh and Kallu Gujjar and Adil while three are still absconding. The police also denied any communal angle in the incident though the victim's family have reiterated their claim in several interviews to reporters.
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Against this backdrop, the viral video claims that the three absconding accused in the Loni incident have been nabbed by the residents and brutally thrashed.
The viral clip has a Hindi caption that translates to 'The three accused of chopping beard thrashed by public'.
(Hindi: दाडी काटने वाले 3 आरोपी को पकड कर जनता तबीयत से मारा)
The video contains violence so BOOM has not included it in the story.
You can view the Facebook post here.Viewers discretion advised.
The same video has been shared from multiple Facebook pages with similar false claims.
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Fact Check
BOOM watched the video closely and at one point the camera zooms in to a motorcycle. The registration number of the vehicle shows a Delhi (DL) registration.
Taking cue, we did a keyword search on YouTube and Facebook with Hindi words 'भीड़ ने दिल्ली में चोर को पकड़कर मारा'.
(English: Delhi mob nabs thief and thrashes)
We found a Facebook post sharing the same video on June 13 with a Hindi caption claiming 'Cried of catch, thieve are here! resonate in Delhi's Jahangirpuri. Public nabs three people who had come to extort money from vegetable vendors, thrashes them'.
(Hindi: दिल्ली जहांगीरपुरी में मच गया शोर, पकड़ो-पकड़ो मारो-मारो आ गए चोर. सब्जी बेचने वाले से रंगदारी वसूलने आए 3 लोगों को भीड़ ने पकड़ा, लाठी-डंडों से जमकर की पिटाई)
We then did another keyword search on YouTube with Hindi words 'भीड़ ने दिल्ली जहांगीरपुरी में चोर को पकड़कर मारा' and found a News Nation report from June 13 on the same incident.
The News Nation report says that the man being thrashed in the video was extorting money from a vegetable vendor.
BOOM then called the office of the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Jahangirpuri who refuted the viral claim.
The ACP told BOOM that incident is not related to the Ghaziabad incident.
"Both the parties were known to each other. This is not at all a communal matter. It involved some monetary issue. The accused had come to collect the money when they were attacked. Arrests were made from both the sides," the ACP told BOOM and added that the incident was not related to the Loni attack involving Abdul Samad Saifi.
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