Old Video of Drunk Cop Falsely Linked To Aam Aadmi Party's Win in Punjab Polls

We could trace the video back to July 2017.

The claim states that a police officer in Punjab was found in an inebriated state after AAP's win. 

(Source: Facebook/ Altered by The Quint)

An old video of a turbaned police personnel in an inebriated state is being circulated on social media taking a dig at Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Punjab Chief Minister-designate Bhagwant Mann, who is set to take oath on 16 March.

This comes after AAP's landslide victory in the recently concluded Assembly elections in the bordering state. The standup comedian-turned-politician won from the Dhuri seat.

However, we could trace the video, which shows the man failing to lift himself from the ground despite repeated attempts, back to at least 2017, making it clear that it is not linked to polls.

Such claims were made even during the polls. One such morphed photo of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal with Mann was shared to show the duo at a liquor shop.

CLAIM

The video is being shared with a caption in Hindi which states, "पंजाब में पेगवंत मान सरकार बनने के बाद रुझान आने लगे है?"

(Translation by Twitter: After the formation of Pegwant Mann government in Punjab, trends have started coming?)

Archived version of the Tweet can be seen here.

(Source – Twitter/Screenshot)

The video was shared on Facebook with the same caption too. The archived posts can be seen here, here, and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

On conducting a reverse image search, we found the video posted on a YouTube channel on 13 April 2017.

The video was titled, “UDTA PUNJAB Drunk Punjab Police Officer (ਫਲਾਇਰ ਪੰਜਾਬ)” and unlike the viral post from social media, this video has no music and people could be heard speaking in the background.

The video was found to be uploaded in 2017 originally. 

(Source: YouTube/ Altered by The Quint)

Further, the insignia seen on the policeman's arm is that of Punjab Police.

On comparing the two badges, it is confirmed that the police officer from the video worked for Punjab Police.

(Source: Screenshot/ Altered by The Quint)

Although we have not been able to independently verify the exact location of the video, the fact that it happened after Bhagwant Mann won the polls is false.

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