A disturbing video of a gym trainer assaulting a woman inside a gymnasium in West Bengal's Ranaghat has surfaced with captions falsely claiming that a Muslim trainer attacked Hindu girls.
BOOM reached out to the Superintendent of Police, Ranaghat Police District, who denied a communal angle to the incident and stated that both the victim and the perpetrator are from the same community.
The CCTV footage shows the assailant grabbing the woman by her hair and pinning her down, as she tries to escape. He then blows punches and slaps on her as she fall to the ground and cries for help.
The video is circulating on X with the caption, Abdul m0nster t0rtured hindu girls inside Bodylab Power Gym Ranaghat #Westbegal the more I heard about crimes, the more I realised that Brigadier Pratap was right."
BOOM has chosen not to include the post because of its graphic nature.
Click here for an archive of the X post.
The X posts also uses a screengrab of actor Kay Kay Menon from the film Shaurya and refers to Menon's dialogue where he refers to infiltrators as pests.
The video is also circulating on Facebook with captions misidentifying the assailant as one Idris Jamal. Click here for an archive.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a relevant keyword search and found a news report by the Times of India published on May 6, 2024 detailing the incident. According to the report, the incident happened in Bodylab Power Gym, Ranaghat, West Bengal where a trainer assaulted a woman inside the gym.
We then found Ranaghat District Police's post on X which stated that the perpetrator in the video has been identified and arrested by Ranaghat District Police. Addressing an X user who posted the video, Ranaghat District Police's official X handle wrote, "The perpetrator in this video has been identified and arrested by Ranaghat District Police. A case has been initiated against him. The victim lady was also contacted and at present, she is safe and secure."
BOOM then reached out to Kumar Sunny Raj, Superintendent of Police, Ranaghat Police District, who denied a communal angle to the incident. Kumar told BOOM that the incident happened on January 9, 2024. He further added, "The perpetrator has been identified as Rajdeep Dey and the victim has been contacted. The claims made on social media are false and both Dey and the victim are Hindus. The victim is said to be the girlfriend of the accused." Kumar also told BOOM that a case has been registered against Rajdeep Dey and he is in police custody currently.
