A clip of an altercation between a man sitting inside a car and a group of alleged goons is viral on social media. At the end of the clip, the man is dragged out of the car by these ‘goons’ and beaten up. Former BJYM national secretary Anoop Antony shared the clip and claimed that the alleged goons who were ‘high on drugs and alcohol’ had been extorting money in the name of Christmas donations and such rackets were being ‘fostered Kerala’s Left ecosystem’. (Archive)
Christmas spirit choked by extortion rackets fostered by Kerala’s Left ecosystem.
High on drugs and alchohol, goons are forcefully extorting money in the name of Christmas donation!
Kerala turned into a hub of drugs by the Left, holding the youth captive for their political… pic.twitter.com/0t1D566hXR
— Anoop Antony (@AnoopKaippalli) December 27, 2023
The clip has also been shared on Facebook with the claim that the video shows an actual incident. A user claimed that the alleged goons belonged to the political organisation Democratic Youth Federation of India.
Fact Check
We noticed the viral video had the text ‘Sujith Ramachandra’ imposed on it.
We found Sujith Ramachandran’s account on Facebook and discovered that Ramachandran had uploaded the same video on December 26. The caption had a disclaimer which stated that the video was staged and was made for awareness purposes. Ramachandran acknowledged the actors featured in the viral video for their performances while crediting himself for the direction. Below is a translation of the caption, which is written in Malayalam.
‘A youth who travelled from Kadal (Kadakkal) to Kulathupuzha with his family met with an unfortunate incident at the Ondupacha location 😥 In Frame: Jishnu, Mazhavil, Surjith, Biju, Siddhique, Noushad, Mahesh, Vijayan Kadakkal, Jyothish & Pichu In Direction: Sujith Ramachandran Disclaimer: Created video for awareness purpose”‘.
നാടൊട്ടുക്കു പിരിവ്!
കടക്കൽ നിന്ന് കുളത്തുപ്പുഴക്ക് കുടുംബവുമായി സഞ്ചരിച്ച യുവാവിന് ഓന്തുപച്ച എന്ന സ്ഥലത്തു വെച്ച് സംഭവിച്ചത് 😥
അരങ്ങിൽ : ജിഷ്ണു മഴവില്ല് , സുർജിത്, ബൈജു, സിദ്ധീഖ്, നൗഷാദ്, മഹേഷ്‌, വിജയൻ കടക്കൽ, ജ്യോതിഷ് & പിച്ചു
അണിയറയിൽ :സുജിത് രാമചന്ദ്രൻ
Disclimer : Created video for awareness purpose
Posted by Sujith Ramachandran on Tuesday, 26 December 2023
He also uploaded a selfie with the team who worked on the video. Below is a side-by-side comparison of a keyframe from the viral video alongside the selfie, clearly showing the same individuals dressed in identical attire.
Ramachandran, accompanied by three actors from the viral video, issued a video statement addressing the widespread circulation of their content in various WhatsApp groups. They said that despite a disclaimer, the video was being falsely presented as an authentic incident, leading to some individuals politicizing it by giving it a communal twist. He reiterated that the video was scripted.
‘സത്യം ചെരുപ്പിട്ട് തുടങ്ങുമ്പോൾ നുണ ലോകം ചുറ്റിയിരിക്കും ‘
ക്രിസ്മസ് പിരിവ് എന്ന പേരിൽ DYFI ക്ക് എതിരെയും കൊല്ലം ജില്ലകാർക്കെതിരെയും എഡിറ്റ്‌ ചെയ്തു പ്രചരിക്കുന്ന വീഡിയോയുടെ സത്യാവസ്ഥ
Posted by Sujith Ramachandran on Wednesday, 27 December 2023
Hence, a scripted video of an altercation was circulated online as real. The former BJYM National Secretary, Anoop Antony, tweeted the video and claimed that such ‘extortion rackets’ were being fostered by in Kerala and blamed the Left government for it.
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