A video showing a group of people thrashing some men is being shared to claim that they were beating the men accused of attacking 72-year-old Abdul Samad Saifi in Ghaziabad’s Loni.
However, we found that the video is from Delhi’s Jahangirpuri, where a group of people thrashed three men who had allegedly come to extort money from a vegetable seller.
The claim comes after a video of Saifi being brutally thrashed and his beard cut off in Loni went viral. As of now, nine of the accused have been arrested.
CLAIM
The claim along with the video reads: “यह मजा है एकजुट रहने का...लोनी में जिन लोगों ने बुजुर्ग की दाढ़ी काटी थी...उन्हें घर से निकाल कर पब्लिक ने मारा।”
(Translated: It's fun to be united...the people who had cut off the beard of the elderly in Loni, were kicked out of the house by the public and were beaten.)
The Quint received a query on the claim being made about the video on its WhatsApp tipline as well.
WHAT WE FOUND
On carefully looking at the viral video, we found a bike with the number plate mentioning ‘DL’, suggesting that it could be from Delhi.
We then searched on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook with Hindi keywords “घर में घुस गए चोर छत लोगों मारपीट दिल्ली” (Translated: Thieves entered house roof people thrashing Delhi) and came across a Facebook post shared on 13 June.
The post carried the viral visuals with a text that suggested that the video is from Delhi’s Jahangirpuri. The same was shared on YouTube as well.
Using relevant keywords, we came across another Facebook post shared by ‘The Nation Voice’ carrying the viral visuals that claimed that video is from Jahangirpuri and that a group of people thrashed three men for allegedly extorting money from a vegetable seller.
VIDEO FROM JAHANGIRPURI, POLICE SAYS ACTION TAKEN
Speaking to The Quint, Sanjay Drall, assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Jahangirpuri said that both the parties were known to each other and that it was a “quarrel.”
“It was a quarrel. Action has been taken,” he added.
We also spoke to SHO Jahangirpuri, Rajesh Kumar, who said that the viral video is from Jahangirpuri and is not related to Ghaziabad’s Loni.
“The men had come to threaten and collect money from somebody in the area. Police has taken the action and accused have been arrested.”Rajesh Kumar, SHO Jahangirpuri
Further, we came across a news report by NDTV that was published on 13 June and mentioned that three people were thrashed in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri area as they had allegedly come to collect extortion money from a vegetable seller.
After the vegetable seller screamed, the people of the area caught hold of the three accused and beat them up with sticks. The police have registered an FIR against the three accused.
We also spoke to Iraj Raja, superintendent of police (SP Rural) Ghaziabad, who confirmed to us that the viral video is from Delhi and not Ghaziabad’s Loni.
Evidently, a video from Delhi’s Jahangirpuri was falsely linked to the incident from Ghaziabad’s Loni wherein a 72-year-old man was attacked.
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