Photo shared in connection with assault on elderly man in Bijnor is not of accused Abhinav Singh

by Priyanka Jha

A CCTV clip from Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, has surfaced recently, which depicts a man slapping an elderly person multiple times and misbehaving with an elderly woman who tries to intervene. 

According to reports, Abhinav Singh, son of BJP leader Dr. Birbal Singh, allegedly barged into the home of an elderly couple on the morning of July 23 and assaulted them.

The CCTV footage has been widely shared alongside a picture of a man, demanding strict punishment for Abhinav Singh. (Archived link)

Numerous users on X have shared the image of Abhinav Singh, calling for his arrest.

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Viral Image is Not of Accused Abhinav Singh

While investigating the incident, Alt News found that The Lallantop had spoken to Dr. Birbal Singh, the accused doctor’s father and BJP leader. He acknowledged that his son assaulted the elderly man, stating, “This incident is very unfortunate. Whatever happened is painful for me. This incident happened suddenly. My son was going to his clinic. The victims are our neighbours and relatives.”

Following this, we examined accused Dr. Abhinav Singh’s Facebook page, which revealed that the viral picture being circulated was of a different man named Abhinav Singh Chauhan, who had no connection to this incident. Due to the similarity in names, his image was mistakenly circulated online. A comparison of the viral image with a photo of the accused Dr. Abhinav Singh confirms that they are different individuals.

Below is a photo of the accused, Dr. Abhinav Singh, with his father Birbal Singh, taken from his Facebook page. In the picture, Dr. Abhinav Singh is seen holding a plate of flowers. (Archived link) It is worth noting that the man in the CCTV footage assaulting the elderly person is wearing similar glasses to those worn by the accused Dr. Abhinav Singh in his photos. 

We also came across a tweet by Abhinav Singh Chauhan, who is associated with the BJP, which stated that his image was being wrongly used. He requested people not to share his picture in connection with the video, warning of appropriate legal action against those who had done so.

The Bijnor Police also reported that the elderly man filed a complaint on the 24th, alleging that an individual entered his home and misbehaved with him. A case has been registered against the accused, and further action was being taken.

To sum it up, an incident involving the assault of an elderly person by BJP leader’s son Abhinav Singh led to the viral spread of an unrelated individual’s image. 

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About the Author

She specializes in information verification, examining mis/disinformation, social media monitoring and platform accountability. Her aim is to make the internet a safer place and enable people to become informed social media users. She has been a part of Alt News since 2018.