A CCTV footage showing a man being brutally assaulted by a group of men with rods is doing the rounds on social media, claiming to show an incident where a Muslim man, named Mohammed Mustaqim from Bihar’s Samastipur, died after being assaulted on suspicion of cattle theft.
While such an incident did take place in Bihar, the video being shared claiming to show the incident is not related to it.
The CCTV footage shows a violent incident in Hansi in Haryana’s Hisar, where a man, identified as Vikas, was assaulted by a group of men over a long standing enmity between the parties.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
Using InVID, a video verification tool, we divided the viral video into multiple keyframes and ran reverse Google Image searches on a few of them. The results led us to an Amar Ujala news report, dated 3 August, which carried stills of the viral video and mentioned that it was from Hisar in Haryana.
It elaborated that the person being assaulted – who succumbed to his injuries – was a 26-year-old man called Vikas and that the incident took place in the wee hours on 3 August in Hansi town.
The assault took place over a long-standing personal enmity, it added, stating that Vikas already had some police cases registered against him.
A group of seven men entered the house at 2 am, said Naina Devi, the deceased’s wife, reported Dainik Bhaskar. As seen in the video, the group thrashed Vikas, and did not stop even when Naina, and her daughter ran out to plead.
After the assault, Vikas was rushed to the hospital, where he was declared brought dead, it said.
As per a report by Jagran, two people had been arrested in connection to the murder as of 9 August. As per a tweet by Hansi Police’s verified Twitter handle, a third arrest had been made on 13 August.
The Quint contacted a local reporter who confirmed that the video shows the murder of Vikas from Hansi. He said that the children seen in the footage were the deceased's children.
Vikas had been released on parole 10 days before the incident, after being arrested for a violent fight. He had 21 cases registered against him, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.
In 1997, Vikas' mother had been awarded a life sentence for killing her husband with the help of her lover and is imprisoned.
WHAT ABOUT THE INCIDENT IN BIHAR'S SAMASTIPUR?
In Bihar’s Samastipur, a 35-year-old man was fatally lynched by a mob for allegedly trying to steal cattle on 31 July, reported Hindustan Times. The man, identified as Mohammed Mustaqim, died during his treatment.
Mustaqim was reportedly with three other people, who were allegedly attempting to steal a bullock from a farmer’s house, but were caught. The Telegraph reported that the villagers had chased all of them but only managed to catch Mustaqim.
The local police station’s Station House Officer (SHO) told the publication that an FIR had been registered against 50-60 unidentified accused, and three people had been named.
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