Fact-Check: Video of RSS Leader at Iftar Party Falsely Linked to Nagpur Violence

This iftar party took place in Delhi's Nizamuddin area and not Nagpur, as claimed.

Fact-Check: This event took place two days before the violence.

(Source: The Quint) 

A video has gone viral on social media, asserting that Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS) leader Indresh Kumar attended an Iftar party when the violence broke out in Nagpur, Maharashtra.

Some context: On 17 March, Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) held a protest in Nagpur calling for the removal of the tomb of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Meanwhile, the demonstrators set fire to a symbolic effigy of Aurangzeb at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Chowk.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Archives of similar claims can found here and here.)

Is the claim true?: No, the claim is false. This video is from Delhi's Nizamuddin area where the iftar was held on 15 March, that is, two days before the violence in Nagpur.

What we found: We ran a relevant keyword search on Facebook and found a post on Indresh Kumar's account. He uploaded several images from the said event.

• The post simply carried a hashtag, '#Iftar.' The post carried the invite for the party which noted that it was held at the Community Centre in Nizamuddin in Delhi.

• The party took place on 15 March, which was two days before the violence in Nagpur (17 March)

• Similarly, we found a video of this event on news agency, ANI's YouTube channel too. It was uploaded on 16 March.

Conclusion: A false claim has gone viral that RSS's Indresh Kumar attended an iftar party on the night of the Nagpur violence.

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