A video from 2020 showing police assault Muslim youths for violating lockdown protocols in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh is being falsely linked to a recent case where a man was arrested in Ajmer, Rajasthan for allegedly spying for Pakistan.
In the 15 seconds video, several men can in skull caps are seen exiting a building one by one and being hit with lathis by the police.
Separately, a man was arrested in Ajmer for allegedly spying for Pakistan on February 18, 2022, reported news agency PTI. It further reported that the accused, Mohammad Yunus, was allegedly passing on classified information about Nasirabad's cantonment of the army to his Pakistan-based handlers through WhatsApp chats and calls.
However, the video that is going viral is not connected to this case.
The viral video is being shared with the caption, "Mohamed Yunus, Ahmed Maulana, and Saddam, who spies for Pakistan from Ajmer, were beat up by the army." (sic)
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(In Hindi - अजमेर से पाकिस्तान के लिए जासूसी करने वाले मोहम्मद यूनुस,अहमद मौलाना,और सद्दाम को सेना ने ढङे मारे")
The same video is being widely shared on Facebook with the false claim.
Also Read: BJP Leaders Falsely Claim Pro-Pakistan Slogans Chanted At SP Candidate's Rally
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral video is from April 2020 in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, when local police had thrashed those present at the spot for violating lockdown protocols.
We spotted several replies to the viral tweet stating that the video is old and could be from the lockdown imposed during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taking a hint from this, we then broke the video into key-frames and ran a reverse image search using Yandex, which search results showed that the video is from April 2020 and not recent.
Anurag Dwary, NDTV India, Resident Editor, Bhopal had tweeted the same video on April 17, 2020, reporting that police in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh had taken action against people for violating lockdown protocols for offering namaz in public.
We also found the same video posted on YouTube by K9 Media on April 19, 2020, stating that it showed police action for violating lockdown rules in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh.
The visuals in the video match the viral video which is being shared.
