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Image Credit: Twitter, Nitish Kumar/CM.bihar.gov.in, Tejashwi Yadav/Wikipedia
Old Video Of Policeman Being Attacked By Liquor Mafia Viral Linking To Recent Hooch Tragedy
Writer: Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
Bihar, 2 Jan 2023 12:11 PM GMT | Updated 2 Jan 2023 12:41 PM GMT
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Creatives : Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
The viral video is from September 2020, when ASI Ashutosh Kumar was attacked by the liquor mafia when he went to investigate illegal liquor consignment. At the time, JDU, along with NDA led by the BJP, was in power in Bihar.
Last month, at least 70 people were reported dead in the Saran district of Bihar in a hooch tragedy. On 31 December 2021, Delhi Police arrested Ram Babu Mahto, the kingpin of the tragedy and handed him over to the Bihar Police. The deaths in the Saran hooch tragedy due to the consumption of spurious liquor were the highest in such an incident since Bihar enforced prohibition in 2016.
Against the same backdrop, a video of people severely beating a policeman is doing rounds on social media. In this one-minute-long video, a group of people can be seen attacking a policeman, soaked in blood, with sticks, punches and kicks. Social media users are claiming that this video is recent, where Liquor mafia goons thrashed a policeman under the rule of the "Mahagathbandhan government" led by RJD and JDU in Bihar.
A Twitter user shared this video and wrote a caption in Hindi which reads, "शराब माफिया ने पुलिस वालों को ही धो डाला, ये कैसा बिहार महागठबंधन की सरकार ने बना डाला?"
[English Translation: Liquor mafias thrashed the policemen. What kind of Bihar has been made by the Grand Alliance government?]
[Trigger Warning: The Logical Indian has not embedded the video due to its graphic nature. Click here to see the video.]
Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) official Twitter handle has shared the same video with a similar claim.
It is being widely shared on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim.
Claim:
Viral video shows a policeman being thrashed by the Liquor mafia under the rule of the "Mahagathbandhan government" in Bihar.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian fact-check team verified the viral claim and found it misleading. The viral video is from 2020, when the Janata Dal (United), in coalition with National Democratic Alliance (NDA), was in power in Bihar.
We extracted different keyframes from the viral video during the initial investigation using the InVid tool and conducted a Google reverse image search. It led us to a video report of ABP News dated September 06, 2020, in which similar footage can be seen. According to the report, the viral video is from Patna, where the liquor mafia had surrounded and thrashed a policeman. After this, the DGP took cognisance of the matter, and 12 people were taken into custody.
According to the report of Navbharat Times dated September 8, 2020, the goons associated with the liquor mafia allegedly attacked Jakkanpur police station ASI Ashutosh Kumar in Patna. After receiving the news of an illegal liquor consignment being unloaded, a team from Jakkanpur police station reached the spot. However, the liquor mafia Subodh Paswan and his man surrounded ASI Ashutosh and attacked him with sticks and kick-punches. Later, police teams from three stations reached the spot and saved the ASI.
In further investigation, we found that in 2017, Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) JDU broke its alliance with Mahagathbandhan (Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and JDU) and formed a government in alliance with NDA, led by the right-wing BJP. Further, in the 2020 Assembly Election, Nitish regained power and became Bihar's CM for the seventh time. However, in August 2022, he returned to Mahagathbandhan after breaking the alliance with BJP. So, when this incident happened, the NDA also governed the state.
Conclusion:
Our investigation shows that the viral video is not recent but from September 2020, when ASI Ashutosh Kumar was attacked by the liquor mafia when he went to investigate illegal liquor consignment. At that time, JDU, in coalition with the NDA, was in power in Bihar. It has nothing to do with the recent hooch tragedy. Hence, the viral claim is misleading.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343
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