A video of a group of men assaulting a bank employee in the presence of police is massively viral on social media. Twitter user Renuka Jain shared the video claiming, “Shivsena goons beat up IDBI bank manager in Maharashtra in presence of police.” This video went viral a few days after footage of Shiv Sena members assaulting a former Indian Navy man emerged on social media.
Shivsena goons beat up IDBI bank manager in Maharashtra in presence of police ЁЯТРJai Maharashtra@OfficeofUT #DeathOfDemocracy pic.twitter.com/MmE91Xjl4E
тАФ #RenukaJain (@RenukaJain6) September 11, 2020
Chayan Mukherjee, great-grandson of former Calcutta University vice-chancellor Ashutosh Mukherjee, also claimed that Sena Sena workers attacked an employee of Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) in police presence.
#PresidentRuleInMaharashtra Shiv sena goons attack IDBI bank manager in police presence pic.twitter.com/rV5l8dXW0P
тАФ Chayan Chatterjee (@Satyanewshi) September 12, 2020
The video drew thousands of retweets from the account @sumeshnanda85 and @jagat_darak.
The claim is also viral on Facebook.
A verified YouTube channel News Times 24 also blamed Shiv Sena workers.
Fact-check
A keyword search took us to a report by Times Now which said that the men attacking the bank employee were Youth Congress workers. The media outlet said that the video emerged “a day after” the assault on ex-Navy serviceman Madan Sharma. This report was carried by other organisations under the Times Group тАФ The Times of India and Navbharat Times.
A subsequent Google reverse-image search using InVid led us to a September 12 post by Facebook page Metronewz. As per this post, the incident took place at IDBI in Malkapur city of Buldhana district in Maharashtra. This post said that the men causing violence were members of the Congress party.
Using the above as clue, Alt News contacted IDBI in Malkapur and spoke with branch head Anil Sawle. He stated that the incident happened on August 24. According to him, the man assaulted was the former branch head. “Last month, some men entered the Malkapur bank and caused a nuisance. They wanted their loan to be processed immediately. Despite assurances from the manager, they assaulted him.” Sawle has recently joined the branch and said that he isn’t aware of the political affiliation of the men.
We then reached out to Malkapur police and spoke with assistant police inspector Smita Masaye. She confirmed that the incident took place on August 24. “A complaint has been filed against five men in this incident. All five men are members of the Congress party.
Local Marathi news channel 7 Star News reported that Youth Congress taluka head Sambhaji Shirke and Congress taluka head Bandhu Chowdhary were a part of the group behind the violence.
Thus, a video that shows Congress and Youth Congress members attacking IDBI Malkapur branch head on August 24 has been circulating with the claim Shiv Sena members were behind the assault. It is noteworthy that the incident dates back to the last week of August but Times Now, The Times of India and Navhbharat Times reported that it occurred after the September 11 assault on ex-Navy man by Shiv Sena workers.
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