Fact-check: Panchayat secretary abused and beaten by BJP leader in Madhya Pradesh? - Alt News
Abhishek Kumar
5th August 2022 / 12:04 pm / Last updated: 5th August 2022
A video is viral on social media where a person can be seen beating another man with a baton. He also abuses the man, forces him to kneel and then continues to beat him mercilessly. A pistol is seen laying on the sofa nearby and BJP’s symbol ‘lotus’ is showcased on the table. The victim is repeatedly pleading and saying that he has made a mistake.
It is claimed that this is an incident from Rewa in Madhya Pradesh where a BJP leader has mercilessly beaten the Panchayat Secretary.
Sharing this video, the official Twitter handle of the Madhya Pradesh Youth Congress wrote that in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh when the Panchayat Secretary did not send his ‘share’, the BJP leader called him over to his office and abused him. The Madhya Pradesh Youth Congress has also shared this video on Facebook with the same claim.
#भाजपा_का_गुंडाराज
मध्यप्रदेश के #रीवा में #पंचायत_सचिव ने हिस्सा नहीं पहुंचाया तो #भाजपा के जोशीले नेता जी ने पंचायत_सचिव को बेरहमी से पीटा उठक बैठक लगवाई और मुर्गा बनाकर रखा।
“शर्मनाक कृत्य” pic.twitter.com/x8Yo2XZzP4
— MP Youth Congress (@IYCMadhya) August 1, 2022
Dainik Bhaskar Journalist, Ashish Urmaliya also shared the clip and made a similar claim. (Archive link)
मध्यप्रदेश रीवा जिले का भाजपा नेता बताया जा रहा है। पंचायत सचिव को बेरहमी से मार रहा है क्योंकि हिस्सा नहीं मिला। वाह! @ChouhanShivraj @RewaCollector @narottam1272
What the hell? pic.twitter.com/uoW1AW0f4z
— Ashish Urmaliya (@TheJournalistIN) July 30, 2022
Narendra Saluja, the media coordinator for the former Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath also tweeted the video and wrote that it should be investigated. “Somebody says this is from Rewa, while others claim that the man being abused is a Panchayat Secretary. The truth of this matter should be brought to light,” tweeted Saluja. (Archive Link)
सोशल मीडिया पर वाइरल इस विडीओ की जाँच होना चाहिये…
कोई इसे रीवा का बता रहा है कोई कही और जगह का…?
कोई मार खाने वाले को पंचायत सचिव बता रहा है…
सच क्या है , सामने आना चाहिये..
पीटने वाला और मार खाने वाला कौन है , यह सच्चाई सामने आना चाहिये… pic.twitter.com/Apgmjxco97
— Narendra Saluja (@NarendraSaluja) July 22, 2022
A user named Prakash Raj (Parody) also made a similar claim while tweeting this video. (Archive link)
This video is massively viral on Facebook and Twitter with the same claim.
We performed a reverse image search on the keyframes of the viral video, which led us to a report by Dainik Bhaskar related to this incident. The report was published on April 14, 2022. According to this article, this viral video is from the Shahjahanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. Speaking to the media at that time, SP Anand told that the police were not aware of the incident and action will be taken once a case is registered.
While tweeting the video on April 15, Journalist Ranvijay Singh mentioned that this video is from Shahjahanpur. Furthermore, replying to this tweet on April 16, the Shahjahanpur Police shared the statement of Sanjay Kumar, Additional Superintendent of Police.
https://t.co/O1YM4QEwfA
— SHAHJAHANPUR POLICE (@shahjahanpurpol) April 16, 2022
In his video statement, SP Sanjay Kumar said that the name of the accused is Prateek Tiwari and the name of the victim is Rajiv Bhardwaj, a resident of Chowk. The victim told the police that he had failed to disclose the information of a boy working for Prateek Tiwari, due to which the accused had abused him. Based on this information the police registered a case against Prateek Tiwari, Samittar and four other unknown people. Moreover, two accused had been arrested in the case and necessary action was ensured against them, while efforts were being made to arrest the rest.
Alt News got access to a copy of the FIR registered at Sadar Bazar police station in Shahjahanpur on April 16, 2022. In FIR number 354, a case was registered against two named accused Prateek Tiwari, Samittar and four other unknown people under sections 147, 323, and 506 of the IPC.
To sum it up, a four-month-old video of a man being beaten up in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh was shared with the false claim that a Panchayat Secretary in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, was beaten by a BJP leader.
Abhishek is a senior fact-checking journalist and researcher at Alt News. He has a keen interest in information verification and technology. He is always eager to learn new skills, explore new OSINT tools and techniques. Prior to joining Alt News, he worked in the field of content development and analysis with a major focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
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