Old Video of Shops on Fire in Bangladesh Shared with False Communal Twist

This video is unrelated to the protests in Bangladesh and does not have any communal angle to it.

A video showing several shops engulfed with fire and smoke is going viral online as a recent clip from the protests in Bangladesh.

• The claim states that the shop was owned by Rajan Chandra from to the Hindu community, and it further insinuates that 'Hindus are being targeted' in Bangladesh.

Who shared this?: Along with several social media users, right-wing propaganda website which often spreads mis/disinformation, Sudarshan News, and another frequent fake news peddler 'Baba Banaras' on X (formerly Twitter), also shared this claim.

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

What's the truth?: This video is unrelated to the ongoing protests in Bangladesh and does not have any communal angle to it.

• This incident is indeed from Bangladesh's Lakshmipura area but it predates the violent turn that the nationwide protests took.

How did we find out the truth?: We reached out to reporters in Bangaldesh, who told us that this video is from Lakshmipura where around 15 shops caught fire on 11 July 2024.

• Taking a cue, we performed a relevant keyword search on Google using 'shops on fire Lakshmipura' (in Bengali) and we came across several news reports about it.

• A report shared by BD-bulletin on 11 July stated that 15 shops of hardware, plastic and cloth were burned down to ashes in Lakshmipura and the fire department was investigating the cause of fire.

• It also carried an image from the incident and on comparing it with a screenshot from the viral video, we could notice the same shop and two similar people.

• The report also carried a statement from Abdul Mannan, the assistant deputy director of Lakshmipura fire service.

• According to Mannan, they received a call about the fire at 6:20 AM on 11 July and since the area had several garment shops the fire spread quickly.

• Another news report on YouTube shared by Channel 21 News from Bangladesh also shared the same information about this incident.

• We also looked for news reports about specifically about Rajan Chandra's shop being burned down in Bangladesh, as mentioned in the claim, however, we couldn't find any.

Md Shabuj Mahmud, Senior Broadcast Journalist from Independent Television, Bangladesh, told us that this viral claim is false.

"It's an old video spreading as disinformation in the ongoing unrest of Bangladesh," he added.

Shahed Siddique, Head of Input, from IT, Bangladesh, also confirmed to The Quint that there is no communal angle to this incident.

Conclusion: A false communal angle is being given to an old video of shops that had caught on fire in a market in Bangladesh.

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