A video of a person beating and abusing a man kneeling on the ground has gone viral on social media. A pistol can also be seen laying on the sofa nearby. After being hit, the man cringes in pain but is made to kneel again. While sharing this video, people on social media claimed that the viral incident is from Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, where a BJP leader mercilessly thrashed a Panchayat Secretary for not sending his share (money).
Madhya Pradesh Youth Congress official twitter handle shared this video and wrote a caption in Hindi which reads, "#भाजपा_का_गुंडाराज मध्यप्रदेश के #रीवा में #पंचायत_सचिव ने हिस्सा नहीं पहुंचाया तो #भाजपा के जोशीले नेता जी ने पंचायत_सचिव को बेरहमी से पीटा उठक बैठक लगवाई और मुर्गा बनाकर रखा। शर्मनाक कृत्य."
[English Translation: BJP's goondaraj. In Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, when the Panchayat Secretary did not send his 'share', the BJP leader ruthlessly beat up the Panchayat Secretary. Shameful act.]
Ashish Urmaliya, a journalist associated with Dainik Bhaskar also shared the clip with a similar claim.
A Twitter user wrote, "मध्य प्रदेश के रीवा में पंचायत सचिव ने हिस्सा नहीं पहुंचाया तो भाजपा के जोशीले नेता जी ने पंचायत सचिव को बेरहमी से पीटा उठक बैठक लगवाई और मुर्गा बनाकर रखा गया है सबका साथ सबका विकास तेजी से हो रहा है आप लोगो से हाथ जोड़कर विनती है इसको ज्यादा से ज्यादा ग्रुप में भेजे."
[English Translation: In Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, when the Panchayat Secretary did not send BJP leader's 'share', the BJP leader ruthlessly beat up the Panchayat Secretary. 'Sabka sath sabka vikas' is happening at a rapid pace. send to as many groups as possible.]
It is being widely shared on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim.
Claim:
Viral video shows a BJP leader mercilessly thrashing a Panchayat Secretary for not sending the share (money).
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian Fact Check team verified the viral claim and found it to be misleading. The incident took place in Shahjahanpur, UP. No BJP leader was involved in this incident.
We conducted a keyword search to check if an incident of violence depicted in the viral video took place in Banda, Uttar Pradesh. We couldn't find reports indicating the same.
We then conducted a keyword search for the posts which claim that the incident is from Shahjahanpur and came across this report by The Quint. The report confirms that the viral video shows an incident in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The Quint report also stated that the accused's name is Prateek Tiwari.
We then came across a report by AmarUjala that detailed the action taken by the police against six people, which included Prateek Tiwari.
The report also led us to the following tweet by the Shahjanapur police. In the tweet, Sanjay Kumar, the Additional Superintendent of Police, clarifies the context of the video. He states that the main accused, Prateek Tiwari, assaulted Rajiv Bharadwaj. The police registered a case against Prateek Tiwari, Samittar and four other unknown people. Two accused were arrested in the case by the police and necessary action was taken against them. Police is also making efforts to arrest the other accused in the case.
The Logical Indian team contacted Sanjay Kumar, the Additional Superintendent of Police, Shahjahanpur. He clarified that the main accused was Prateek Tiwari, and the victim was Rajiv Bharadwaj. The assault was due to an internal dispute related to the non-payment of dues. The assault occurred in a BJP member's house, however, the main accused is not a part of the BJP.
Conclusion:
In our investigation, we found that the incident occurred in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The viral video is not from recent but four months old. Police arrested accused Prateek Tiwari in this case. The claim of a BJP leader thrashing a Panchayat secretary is also not true.
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