Fact Check: Videos of Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh viral in name of attacks on North Indians in Tamil Nadu
Videos from Rajasthan, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are being shared in the name of Tamil Nadu with a false claim. One video is of a gang war in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, and has nothing to do with the claim of “Hindi speakers attacked”. The police have also clarified. The other videos are not from Tamil Nadu and have no angle of language-related violence.
- By: Sharad Prakash Asthana
- Published: Mar 9, 2023 at 07:40 PM
- Updated: Mar 9, 2023 at 08:02 PM
New Delhi (Vishvas News): Several videos with allegations of violence against Hindi-speaking people in Tamil Nadu are going viral on social media. However, after a detailed investigation, Vishvas News found these claims false as the videos are from Rajasthan, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. These videos have nothing to do with Tamil Nadu, and the related claim of “violence against North Indians” is false. Police have also called these videos fake and the rumours of violence baseless.
Claim:
Twitter user ‘Patna Live News Network’ (archive link) tweeted a video on March 2 in which some people can be seen stabbing another person on the road in broad daylight.
The verified Twitter handle of Mohammad Tanveer (archive link) has posted similar videos in which a few people can be seen attacking a young man on the road. In another video, a crowd is standing near the blood-soaked man.
The video was also sent to the Vishvas News WhatsApp tipline +91-95992-99372. In this, some young men are seen attacking a man on the road. The video was made from a moving vehicle.
Twitter user Jai Prakash Gupta (archive link) has put up screenshots of some such claims as published in the media. He has written with these screenshots that “deadly attacks are being carried out on Hindi-speaking labourers in Tamil Nadu”. It also has a picture of a young man being attacked. In the photo, a man wearing jeans and a shirt attacks a person who has fallen on the ground.
Investigation:
We fact-checked the viral claims one by one.
First claim:
To investigate the first claim, we extracted its keyframes from Google’s InVid tool and ran those frames through Google’s reverse image search. A news report related to this was published in Dainik Bhaskar two weeks ago; the viral videos can also be seen here. According to the Bhaskar report, the matter is of Jodhpur, Rajasthan, where a lawyer was murdered over an enmity. Another video of the murder of lawyer Jugraj Chauhan has also surfaced. Cousins Anil and Mukesh, residents of Jatiya Colony, had attacked Jugraj Chauhan with a knife and stone. In this case, the police have now arrested three accused. This video has nothing to do with Tamil Nadu.
Regarding this, a local journalist of Jodhpur, Ranjan Dave, confirmed the viral video is not from Tamil Nadu, but from Jodhpur in Rajasthan, and is of the murder of lawyer Jugraj Chauhan. Earlier, too, this video had gone viral, with a communal angle. The fact-check report by Vishvas News on that can be read here. Our investigation shows that the video of the murder of a lawyer in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur is being shared in the name of “attack on Hindi speakers in Tamil Nadu.
Second claim:
This claim is based on multiple videos. To verify the first of those videos, as tweeted by Mohammad Tanveer, we extracted a keyframe from it and ran it through Google reverse image search. A news report about this was published on the Simplicity website on 14 February; some keyframes of the viral video can be seen in it. According to the report, the matter concerns Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. Police have arrested seven people in connection with the murder of a person.
The accused were involved in the brutal killing of a person on the district court premises. Police say Gokul and Manoj, residents of Coimbatore, were involved in several crimes. On February 13, both went to the Coimbatore court for a hearing. Four people fatally attacked him in the street near the court. In this incident, Gokul died on the spot while Manoj was admitted to the hospital.
In another news report about this published in The Hindu on February 13, it was reported that the matter is of a gang war. A youth named Gopal from Kavundampalayam was murdered near the court complex in Gopalapuram, it said. He was involved in a murder that took place in 2021. When he came to court with his partner Manoj, he was attacked by a gang of five. Manoj was injured in the attack. A keyframe of the viral video can also be seen in the news report.
Another video of the attack was tweeted on February 14 from the verified handle of Kartik Gopinath (archive link).
This means the video of some youths attacking a young man in the street is from a gang war in Coimbatore. However, we could not find any information about the second video, so we cannot confirm it.
Third claim:
We then examined the video received on the tipline number of Vishvas News. We extracted one keyframe from it and used Google reverse image. A news report about this incident was published in The South First on January 23. According to the report, the matter is of Hyderabad. On January 22, a man named Jangam Sainath, 29, was murdered in Jiyaguda, Hyderabad. The police identified three accused in the case as Akash, Sai (alias Tillu) and Sandeep.
Fourth claim:
Twitter user Yuvraj Singh Rajput (archive link) posted the video. The attacker seen in the picture can be seen in the video. To investigate this, we extracted the keyframe and used Google reverse image. We found a news report related to this on DJ Com YouTube channel. In the video uploaded on August 9, 2021, information has been given in the Kannada language that the matter is of Haveri in Karnataka.
Next, we found a link to a news report published in The Times of India on August 11, 2021. According to this, Margao-based notorious criminal Anwar Shaikh alias Tiger Anwar was brutally murdered at Savanur in the Haveri district of Karnataka. Sheikh was killed on the road in broad daylight by four assailants.
Earlier this video went viral with a fake claim of a communal angle. Vishvas News’s investigation on that can be read here.
This video is also not related to Tamil Nadu. This is a case of a murder of a criminal from Karnataka.
On March 2, the Tamil Nadu Police tweeted that rumours were being spread on social media that Hindi-speaking and North Indian people were being attacked in Tamil Nadu. The police also asked people not to post unverified content and ignore the rumours.
Tamil Nadu’s Director General of Police (DGP) responded to Mohammad Tanveer’s post by releasing a video. In the reply, the videos have been attributed to Coimbatore and Tripura, and the claims linking them to Tripura have been called fake.
Earlier, fake newspaper cuttings were also shared in the name of Dainik Jagran, linking some incidents to Tamil Nadu. Vishvas News’ investigation into that can be read here.
Speaking to Vishvas News, the DGP’s office said, “The DGP has already issued a statement in the matter concerned and Hindi-speaking migrant labourers are safe in the state.”
A social media scan of the Twitter user ‘Jai Prakash Gupta‘ found that he is from Jharkhand and has been active on Twitter since January 2020.
Conclusion: Videos from Rajasthan, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are being shared in the name of Tamil Nadu with a false claim. One video is of a gang war in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, and has nothing to do with the claim of “Hindi speakers attacked”. The police have also clarified. The other videos are not from Tamil Nadu and have no angle of language-related violence.
- Claim Review : Several videos with allegations of violence against Hindi-speaking people are from Tamil Nadu
- Claimed By : Jai Prakash Gupta
- Fact Check : False
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