Sanjay Raut Didn't Say Shiv Sena(UBT) Will Give Clean Chit To Dawood Ibrahim

In the original video, Raut addresses how the ruling government would give a clean chit to everyone.

Fact-check: An edited video of Sanjay Raut is going viral to falsely claim that his party would grant a clean chit to Dawood Ibrahim, if elected to power.

(Photo: The Quint)

A video of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut purportedly saying that if his party’s government would "grant a clean chit" to fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, if voted to power has gone viral online.

The Marathi text overlay reads, “Uddhav Thackeray’s new promise to Muslims. Thackeray will fulfill Pawar’s dream and give a clean chit to Dawood after coming to power."

This comes ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly polls which would take place on 20 November.

An archive can be seen here.

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)

What's the truth?: This video is altered.

• In the original unedited video, Raut addresses how the ruling government, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), would give a clean chit to anyone.

How did we find out the truth?: We performed a reverse image search on some of the keyframes of the viral video with relevant keyword search and this led us to a YouTube video shared by Marathi news channel, Pudhari News.

• This video, which carried Raut's interaction with the media, was shared on 23 October 2023.

• The viral video starts at 15:53 timestamp but he says, "Look, this government (BJP) will give Dawood Ibrahim a clean chit one day. They take help during elections, like Ram Rahim and others. There are many others like Chhota Shakeel and Dawood Ibrahim who can get a clean chit from the Centre. It is already printed, they just add the name, put PMO stamp, clean chit certified. They can do anything."

• The video does not show Raut saying that his party's government would give a clean chit to Ibrahim.

• This was his response to a question about a clean chit given to SEBI Chief Madhabi Puri Buch in Hindenburg case.

• This press conference was also shared by news agency ANI and Raut's same remarks on the centre can be heard in this video.

The words “this government” were replaced by “our government” in the viral video.

Conclusion: An edited video of Sanjay Raut is going viral to falsely claim that his party would grant a clean chit to Dawood Ibrahim, if elected to power.

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