CLAIM
A video of a man being beaten up on the street by a group of men has gone viral on social media with the claim that it shows AAP MLA Pankaj Pushkar being thrashed when he visited his constituency after being 'missing' for five years.
An archived version of his tweet can be seen here.
Congress member Salman Nizami shared the video with the caption: "आम आदमी पार्टी के पांच सालो से लापता विधायक पंकज पुष्कर के मिल जाने की खुशी में आम जनता ने लात-घूंसों से किया स्वागत! AAP का उठता स्तर" (Translation: The AAP MLA who was missing for five years was welcomed back by the public with kicks and punches! The rising level of AAP.)
The video shared by Nizami on 9 January, had 14.2K views at the time this story was published.
Many others also shared the video with the same caption.
It was also shared on Facebook.
The video has been in the run-up to the Delhi Assembly polls, which are to be held on 8 February.
TRUE OR FALSE?
The claim with which the video is being shared is false. While the man being beaten in the video is actually AAP MLA Pankaj Pushkar, the altercation and subsequent assault happened for a different reason. Moreover, the video is old – from August 2019.
WHAT WE FOUND
Upon conducting a Google search with the key words 'AAP MLA Pankaj Pushkar beaten up', we came across various news reports about the incident from 4 August 2019.
The Times of India carried the same video in their article, and wrote that Pushkar had reportedly been manhandled and thrashed by ration shop owners in Delhi's Nehur Vihar area. According to the article, Pushkar had gone to the market to look into some ration shops. When he inquired about their record books, it led to an altercation.
According to an article by India Today, the incident took place around 11:30 am on 3 August 2019, when Pushkar and Delhi Food and Civil Supplies Minister Imran Hussain led a team to conduct a raid on two ration shops in the Timarpur area.
India Today further quoted a press release by Pushkar, in which the MLA said that when the team found discrepancies in the records of one ration shop, the owner and his family members beat up Pushkar and his officer.
The Indian Express too reported on the incident, saying that Pushkar was allegedly heckled by the shop owners. Their report also noted that the shop in question had been pulled up for violations and alleged irregularities since 2015.
So, while Pushkar was really beaten up by some people in Timarpur, which is currently his constituency, the incident happened in 2019 and over an issue unrelated to him not visiting his constituency enough.
Therefore, the claim with which the video is being circulated is fake.
IN CIRCULATION BEFORE AS WELL
The Quint found that another version of the same video had also been viral on social media with different claims.
Rishi Bagree shared the video back in August 2019 claiming that Pushkar was beaten up by ladies for molestation and seeking bribes.
Some others also shared the video with the same claim.
But it is clear that all of these claims on social media are fake.
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