A video is viral on social media showing two men strangling a bike rider and hitting him on the head with a stone to steal his bike. The video is being circulated with the message – “Be careful at nights while giving lift to unknown”. Other variants of the message have also been shared – “kisi ko lift dete time 100 baar socho (think 100 times before giving a lift to someone).”

Be careful while giving lift, especially during night hours.

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Posted by StartUps and Experiences on Wednesday, 3 July 2019

It is quite viral on WhatsApp, however, the clip has not been shared with any additional details of when and where the incident occured.

The video is also circulating with a Hindi text – “किसी को लिफ्ट देने से पहले जरूर सोचिए (Think before giving somebody a lift.)”

किसी को लिफ्ट देने से पहले जरूर सोचिए👇👇👇

Posted by Aakib khan on Tuesday, 2 July 2019

Video from Uganda

A Keyword search on YouTube led Alt News to a June 30, 2019 video which suggested that the incident took place in Uganda. As per the description, “The Uganda Police in Kampala are currently investigating a gruesome murder of a boda boda rider, by two unidentified robbers on Friday night who murdered him as he was driving them to an unknown destination.” Boda Boda is a motorcycle taxi service common in East Africa. The victim wasn’t giving a lift but was taking passengers.

We also found various articles and videos from multiple African websites, including Softpower News and SDE, which said that the video is of a robbery that took place on June 29, 2019 in Kampala district, Uganda. The incident was captured on CCTV cameras of a nearby nursery and primary school. The robbers posed as clients and attacked a Boda Boda rider, strangled and hit him with a stone repeatedly to kill him.

A video from NTV Uganda’s YouTube channel shows the crime scene, identifies the victim and gives details of the whole event, including the people who found the body and also a statement from the police.

The Uganda Police Force also released an official statement with details of the incident on their website. It said, “The territorial police in Old Kampala Divisional Headquarters is actively investigating a gruesome murder of a boda boda rider by two unidentified male robbers, who posing as clients, attacked, strangled and repeatedly hit him with a stone to the head, killing him instantly. They immediately after, stole his motorcycle and fled from the scene. The incident, which occurred on 29th June 2019 at around 0400 am, at Kakeeka Zone, Rubaga Division, in the Kampala district, was captured on CCTV cameras…at the moment, our cyber forensic experts are analyzing the CCTV footage for facial recognition and formal identification of the suspects…”

A video from Uganda is viral in the Indian social media ecosystem, which might give users the impression that the crime took place in India. Such videos, when shared without the context, can give rise to a fear psychosis.

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