A video collage showing a group of men brandishing swords, hurling abuse on camera, and later being paraded by police while apologising for their actions is being shared online with a false and communal claim that it shows the cops teaching a lesson to Muslim youth who were threatening authorities.
BOOM spoke to Sudhir Arjariya, the in-charge of TT Nagar police station, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh who stated that the youth in the videos are Hindus, refuting any communal angle to the incident.
The 32-second long video first shows a group of men recording a video on camera, brandishing swords and hurling abuse. In the latter part of the video, the young men are paraded by the police, holding their ears and apologising for their actions.
The video is being shared with a cryptic caption insinuating the youth are Muslims.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a related keyword search in Hindi on X and found a post by NDTV's resident editor, Anurag Dwary, carrying the same video uploaded on January 1, 2025.
The video was posted with a Hindi caption that translates to, "A while ago, the brothers were getting excited with swords, they even made a video of their bravery, the next day the police made a video".
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Taking a cue, we ran another search on Google and found several Hindi articles about the incident. According to a December 31, 2024, NDTV article, Bhopal police swiftly arrested the individuals involved after they posted a video hurling abuse and brandishing swords in response to a fight under the jurisdiction of Habibganj police station.
The article mentioned that the police apprehended the culprits within 12 hours and paraded them publicly. Those arrested were identified as Akash Gajbi, Uday Sarathe, Akash Soni, Nitesh Jat, Lucky Sen, Jai Rawat, and Hrithik Valmiki.
During the procession, the miscreants held their ears, apologised, and vowed not to repeat such acts or create similar videos in the future, the article added.
We also reached out to Sudhir Arjariya, the in-charge of TT Nagar police station, for further verification. Arjariya refuted the communal claim, clarifying that the miscreants were Hindus.
Arjariya told BOOM, "There is no communal angle to the incident. As part of a revengeful act, they uploaded a video on Instagram issuing threats over an altercation that occurred and was reported at Habibganj police station. The miscreants were Hindus and were later arrested. The altercation took place within the same community."
