Police Officer Killed by 'Protesters' in Kolkata? No, Claim is False

The deceased police constable shot himself after opening fire in Kolkata's Park Circus area.

Fact-Check | The claim that a police officer was killed by goons in Kolkata was false.

(Source: Altered by The Quint)

A gruesome video showing a deceased police officer lying in a pool of blood has gone viral with a false claim that he was killed by "goons supported by Mamata Banerjee" in Kolkata.

The claim goes on to add that the "goons" then threatened the deceased's companion, who can be seen in the video.

Some people also linked the video to the protests that took place in various parts of the country, including Kolkata, over the comments made by former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma.

However, we found that the claim shared with the viral video was false. The deceased was identified as a police constable with the fifth battalion of the Kolkata Armed Police, Choudup Lepcha.

Lepcha was stationed outside the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata on Friday, 10 June, when he opened fire and killed one person, and injured two others. He then shot himself in the head and died on the spot.

Additionally, news reports from the day of the incident said that the protests were happening about a kilometre away from where Lepcha opened fire.

CLAIM

Those sharing the viral video wrote a caption that read, "कलकत्ता मे ममता बनर्जी के समर्थन पाये हुवे दंगाइयों ने पुलिस वाले को मार डाला, उसके बाद उसके साथी को भी धमकी भी दे रहे हैं ।"

[Translation: In Kolkata, the rioters who got the support of Mamata Banerjee killed the cop, after which they also threatened his partner.]

(Note: We have refrained from including any links to the video due to the distressing nature of the visuals.)

Screenshot of the viral video.

We also found that the video was being shared on WhatsApp.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We conducted a keyword search for "Kolkata police killed" and found several news reports about an incident that took place on Friday, 10 June in Kolkata's Park Circus area.

According to the reports, a police constable opened fire indiscriminately from his self-loading rifle (SLR) and killed one person, while leaving two others injured. He then shot himself.

We then looked for video reports on the same and found a news report by NDTV that carries similar visuals. However, due to the gruesome nature of the incident, the video is blurred.

A report in Hindustan Times has quoted Additional Commissioner of Police, Praveen Kumar Tripathi as saying that the incident seemingly has no connection with the protests, but the matter is being investigated.

Eyewitnesses quoted in news reports, too, mention that the constable fired indiscriminately in the middle of the road, before shooting self.

Evidently, an incident involving the suicide of a police constable was shared with false claims.

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