Did 'BJP MLA Anil Upadhyay' Thrashed A Policeman? Old Video From 2018 Shared With Misleading Claim

A video of a clash is becoming increasingly viral on social media. In the viral video, a man can be seen thrashing and abusing a policeman. While sharing this video, social media users claimed that the person beating up the policeman is BJP MLA, Anil Upadhyay.

A Twitter user shared this video and wrote a caption in Hindi which reads, "अनिल उपाध्याय जी बीजेपी के विधायक है अब बताइए इन लोगों से जब पुलिस ही सुरक्षित नहीं हैं तो आम जनता कैसे सुरक्षित होगी."

[English Translation: Anil Upadhyay ji is a BJP MLA, now tell me how the general public will be safe when the police are not safe from these people.]

It is being widely shared on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim.

Image Credit: Facebook

Claim:

BJP MLA named Anil Upadhyay thrashed a policeman.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian Fact-Check team verified the claim and found it to be false. The viral video is three years old. We first searched BJP MLA Anil Upadhyay's name on Google, but we could not find any satisfactory results or links of any BJP MLA with the name. We checked myneta.info, too but didn't find any BJP MLA with the name.

We then ran a reverse image search of different keyframes from the video using the InVid tool. It led us to a report of 20 October 2018 by Hindustan Times. The title of the report reads, "Video shows BJP leader beating up police officer in Meerut restaurant, arrested" The report carries the stills of the viral video. As per the report, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporator in Meerut thrashed a sub-inspector at a restaurant after an argument over delayed service. An FIR was filed against the corporator, Manish Chaudhary, for beating up Mohiuddinpur police outpost in-charge Sukhpal Singh Panwar at the Black Pepper restaurant.

Image Credit: Hindustan Times

During our investigation, we also find a video report of India Today on the same incident. According to the report, the restaurant staff has alleged that Sub-inspector Sukhpal Sing Panwar took out his service pistol and tried to threaten them. Later, the BJP corporator was arrested by Meerut Police. The New Indian Express and NDTV also reported this incident.

Image Credit: NDTV

We also found this video tweeted by ANI on October 20, 2018.

On searching more, we also found a Tweet from Meerut Police on this matter. The caption of the post reads in English, "In connection with the above incident, Manish, Councilor and his associates Sandeep, Arun and Johnny were sent to jail after registering a case on 19/10/2018 at police station Kankarkheda and charge sheet has been sent to the court. The matter is pending in the Hon'ble Court."

Conclusion:

It is evident from our investigation that the viral video is not recent but from 2018. The accused who is thrashing the Policeman in the video is BJP corporator Manish Chaudhary and not a fictitious BJP MLA Anil Upadhyay, as claimed in the viral video. Hence, the viral claim is false.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

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