A video from Sangli, Maharashtra showing several motorcycles in a queue, is viral claiming it shows Bajrang Dal members entering Kolkata, West Bengal (WB) in scores amid the ongoing violence in the state.
BOOM found that the video is from Sangli district in Maharashtra and shows a bike rally from February 2025.
Massive violence erupted in Murshidabad district of north Bengal on April 11 and 12 during protests against the amended Waqf Act. At least three people were killed, with many residents in the area forced to flee to neighbouring Malda, which also saw sporadic violence previously. Political parties Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continue to pass the blame on each other, even as the region remains tense.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who opposed the implementation of amended Waqf act in the state has accused the BJP of spreading disinformation to malign the state. The BJP has in turn criticised the Banerjee for letting the situation get out of control.
Right wing handle The Jaipur Dialogues posted the video with the caption, "Bajrang Dal travels to West Bengal".
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search on some keyframes from the video and found an Instagram post from February 17, 2025 stating the incident is from Sangli in Maharashtra.
The post stated that the bike rally took place from Mayakka Chinchali in Karnataka to Sangalwadi in Sangli, Maharashtra.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Taking a cue, we ran a related keyword search and found an article published by The Times of India about the bike rally that took place in February this year.
The article, dated February 19, 2025 reports action by Sangli police on hundreds of motorcycle riders returning to Sangli from a religious fair in Karnataka.
According to the report, the riders blared horns and cheered loudly late at night when returning after a visit to Chinchali in neighbouring Karnataka to attend a religous fair for the local deity Mayakka Devi.
It quoted Sangli Rural Police Inspector Kiran Chaugle saying that the police resorted to lathicharge to control the unruly bike riders, adding they had no permission to conduct a rally.
BOOM then reached out to Inspector Chaugle and shared the video with him over WhatsApp who confirmed that the video has no connection to West Bengal and shows a scene from Maharashtra in February this year.
Chaugle told BOOM, "This video is from Sangli. The incident is from February this year when bikers tried creating a ruckus while taking along a horse cart (along with a long rally) at 2 am. They were racing horses from Chinchali, Karnataka, to Sangalawadi in Sangli, Maharashtra. We had filed a case regarding the same."
