A footage of a group of men attacking a bus is being shared to claim that Muslims are attacking public property in Delhi during the ongoing Delhi riots. This claim is false; the footage shows a group of individuals attack a bus driver in Kannad town in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district, during an incident of road rage.
BOOM got in touch with Kannad Police, who told to us that this was a clash arising from a road rage incident and denied that the attack was communal in nature.
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The following footage is being shared in the backdrop of widespread riots in Delhi that has claimed the lives of 17 people at the time of writing this article:
The video was shared by many users, including Shashank Singh, one of the co-founders of Fact Hunt, which calls itself a fact checking portal. The captions shared by the users refer to "skullcaps" being seen in the video, to insinuate a communal angle to the incident, along with claims that it happened in Delhi.
Fact Check
BOOM did a reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video, which led us to a news segment by ABP Majha uploaded on February 18, 2020, carrying the exact same footage.
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According to the caption, the driver of a Kannad-Aurangabad-Shirpur bus was beaten up by 10 to 15 people in Kannad city. The fight started when the bus driver did not allow the car enough space to pass through. The channel also mentioned that a case has been registered at the Kannad Police station, leading to the arrest of two people.
With relevant keyword searches, BOOM found articles by Times of India and Maharashtra Times, that confirm the details provided in the caption of the YouTube video. The Maharashtra Times article also stated the viral footage was shot by a passenger in the bus.
BOOM reached out to BP Rout, Kannad Police Sub-Inspector, who denied any communal angle to the incident. "This was a personal clash that happened after the bus bumped against the car. This was not a communal attack and definitely not in Delhi, it happened in Kannad, near Aurangabad," Rout said.
