Video of petrol pump station employee kidnapped is from Saudi, not UP

A video of a petrol pump station employee being kidnapped from the station is viral on social media. The employee is seen filing a black car with petrol and once he is done, a person grabs him from behind and forces him into the car. The video is being shared with the claim that the incident took place in Uttar Pradesh. Facebook user Hari Ram Meghwal claimed it was shot in Badaun. His post amassed over 6,700 views as of this writing.

Another Facebook user named Zubair Hayat shared the visuals with the same claim.

The clip is widespread on Facebook and Twitter.

Fact-check

We performed a reverse image search of the video frames which led us to an RT Arabic video report dated September 30, 2021. This incident occurred in Saudi Arabia when a petrol pump station employee was kidnapped in broad daylight. The report states that a group of people kidnapped an Asian employee working at the station. Police personnel from the Hail province, located in north-western Saudi Arabia, arrested three people in this case.

On October 2, 2021, Gulf News also published a story on this incident. The article quoted a spokesperson for the Hail police department as saying that the investigation was underway as soon as they received news about a robbery and kidnapping of an Asian employee working at a petrol pump station.

Arab Times reported that the same vehicle was used in the abduction of another petrol pump station employee.

To sum it up, this viral clip is from Saudi Arabia, and not Uttar Pradesh.