Visuals of a man lying in a seemingly unconscious state in a vehicle have gone viral across social media. The visuals have been shared with the claim that it shows a man from the Muslim community who was accused of robbing a jewellery store and is lying dead in a police van. The visuals are being shared targeting the Muslim community and give the impression that only a Muslim was involved in the crime.
Claim:
An image was shared by Twitter user Sagar Kumar, who identifies as a journalist affiliated with Sudarshan News. The image shows a person lying inside a van, who seems unconscious with a vacant look in their eyes.
Kumar shared an image with the caption, "Khurja police 'shot' Abdul accused of jewellery shop robbery in Bulandshahr. Yogi ji's clear message in Uttar Pradesh is for the criminal to leave crime or leave Uttar Pradesh."
Prashant Umrao, a standing counsel in Supreme Court, shared a video, with a duration of 15 seconds, showing the same man with the claim, "Khurja police killed Abdul accused of jewellery shop robbery in Bulandshahr."
Other Twitter users shared the image with the same caption, alleging that Abdul committed a robbery and was gunned down.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian Fact-Check team verified the viral claim and found it misleading. Two accused were involved in the crime, not just one person from the Muslim community.
We conducted a keyword search across social media and found a tweet by Sudhir Mishra, who identifies himself as a journalist. He shared the same image with a statement similar to Sagar Kumar, saying, "Khurja police 'shot' Abdul and Ashish, accused of jewellery shop robbery in Bulandshahr. Yogi ji's clear message in Uttar Pradesh is for the criminal to leave crime or leave Uttar Pradesh."
We also came across a video connected to the robbery posted by the Twitter handle of Nav Bharat Times with the caption, "See how the miscreants looted the jewellery shop in Bulandshahr and shot at the employees."
The video showed that there were two perpetrators involved in the crime.
We then conducted another keyword search which threw up a report published by Zee News Uttarakhand. This report published on January 3, 2023, noted that two persons named Ashish and Abdul committed the robbery in Kotwali town, located in Bulandshahr. The two accused shot at the jeweller, who sustained injuries. Later, the police shot the two accused dead in an encounter.
We also came across an Amar Ujala report published on January 3, 2023, which shed further light on the incident. The two accused, Abdul and Ashish, committed the robbery on November 3, 2022, where they also shot jewellery trader Rahul, a resident of Utravali village, which led to serious injuries to him.
The main accused, Ashish Thakur, and his accomplice Abdul were absconding. As per the Amar Ujala report, on January 3, 2023, Ashish Thakur was killed in a police encounter. His accomplice, Abdul, was killed in a different encounter with the police where he had allegedly fired at the police.
We also came across a tweet by journalist Piyush Rai where he shared a video of the incident noting that the two accused, Ashish and Abdul, were killed in separate police encounters on January 3, 2023.
Rai had also attached a statement of Bulandshahr SSP Shlok Kumar, who says, "Two persons entered a jewellery shop within the Kotwali police station, fired and robbed the owners at gunpoint. A reward of Rs 50,000 was attached for information about the two absconding accused who were history sheeters. In an encounter, one of the accused, named Ashish, was injured and later died in the hospital during treatment. In another police engagement, the second accused, Abdul, was shot and has been declared dead since."
Conclusion:
Our investigation showed that two accused were involved in the crime, not just one person from the Muslim community. Thus, the communal claim circulated with the viral visuals is misleading.
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