Did the Blast in UP's Bulandshahr Take Place in a Muslim Person's Home?

The Bulandshahr police told The Quint that tenant of the house, who is also the prime accused, is one Raj Kumar.

Fact-check: A communal angle was given to a blast at a house in Uttar Pradesh.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A set of videos showing a cloud of smoke emerging out of some houses following a blast is going viral on social media with a claim that this happened at a Muslim person’s house near a mosque in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, that killed four family members.

It further added that chemical drums were recovered from one Mohammad Shafiq’s house, which allegedly led to the blast.

Who shared it?: Several social media users, along with a handle called Sudarshan News UP shared this video to claim that the blast happened at Mohammad Shafiq’s house in Uttar Pradesh.

(Note: We have refrained from adding links to this post due to the graphic nature of the videos.)

Sudarshan News UP shared three videos with this claim.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

(Archives of similar claims with non-violent videos can be seen here and here.)

What is the truth?: While a blast did take place in an agricultural farm near Bulandshahr city in Uttar Pradesh on Friday, 31 March, the property didn't belong to a person from the Muslim community. 

• As per news reports, the owner of the property was one Satish and the tenant, who is also the prime accused in the case, was called Raj Kumar. 

• The people who died included four from the Hindu community and two from the Muslim community. 

• The Bulandshahr police also confirmed to The Quint that the property didn't belong to a Muslim person.

How did we find this out?: 

• We looked for news reports about the blast in Uttar Pradesh and found a report by India Today published on 31 March.

• The report stated that a massive blast happened at a house in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh and added that the blast occurred due to a cylinder.

• Another report published in Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar said that six people died in a blast - three Hindu men: Abhishek, Chanderpal, and Vinod, a 40-year-old Muslim man called Raees and his 5-year-old child Ahaad. A woman's head was also found at the site of the incident.

• It added that the investigation revealed that both the home and the plot belonged to an individual named Satish Kumar.

Bulandshahr police statements about the incident: We reached out to the Additional Superintendent of Police Surendranath Tiwari of the Kotwali city area of Bulandshahr.

• He told The Quint that there is no communal angle involved in the case.

• "No communal angle is involved in this matter. The company where the blast happened was owned by one Raj Kumar, who is the main accused in this case," Tiwari added.

• We also received the FIR of this case and found out that the names of the entire family of the accused person have been mentioned in the FIR.

• According to the FIR, Rajkumar and his brother, Vinod, were running the factory where the blast happened.

• The FIR also includes the name of one Akram who is listed as an accused. 

Screenshot of the FIR of this case. 

(Photo: Accessed by Quint Hindi)

We also found a tweet by Bulandshahr Police that carried a video in which the Senior Superintendent of Police states that a company named MS Care Fund Traders, registered in the name of Raj Kumar, had a license to deal with chemicals.

• We also found a tweet from the Bulandshahr police urging Sudarshan News UP to not to disseminate misleading information without verifying the facts.

Statements from a local journalist: We contacted local journalist Sandeep Tayal of Bulandshahr.

• He told The Quint that the bodies of five people were found on 31 March from the scene of the blast.

• He added that Babli and Naubatram were missing following the blast but were later identified.

• Tayal also confirmed that there is no communal angle in the matter.

Accused Raj Kumar arrested in Noida: Bulandshahr police shared a report on Twitter about the arrest of the accused, Raj Kumar, his brother and another accused from Noida on 3 April.

The tweet can be seen here. 

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

Conclusion: Clearly, the claim that a blast took place in UP's Bulandshahr because of chemicals stored at a Muslim person's home is false.

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