A video of Andhra Pradesh police thrashing three young men on their feet in public is being falsely shared, linking it to other states in India
A video showing police officers brutally thrashing three young men in public while a crowd looks on is being widely shared across social media platforms. In the visuals, a police officer is seen beating the young men on their feet with a lathi, as they flinch and cry out in pain. The video is being circulated with the claim that the incident took place in Uttar Pradesh (here, here, and here). It is also being shared with claims that it is from Bihar and Madhya Pradesh (here, here). In this article, let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video shows Uttar Pradesh police officers brutally thrashing three young men in the public.
Fact: This viral video shows Andhra Pradesh police publicly punishing three individuals who were accused of attacking a police constable in Tenali town, Andhra Pradesh, in April 2025. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Upon closely reviewing the entire video, we found that the insignia featured on the uniforms of the police officers belongs to the Andhra Pradesh Police.
We then conducted a Google reverse image search to gather more details about the viral video. This search led us to multiple news reports featuring keyframes from the video. According to these reports (here, here, and here), the viral video shows Andhra Pradesh police personnel beating three individuals who were accused of assaulting a police constable in Tenali town, Andhra Pradesh. The assaulted individuals have been identified as Chebrolu John Victor, Sheikh Babulal alias Karimulla, and Doma Rakesh — residents of Tenali and Mangalagiri.
According to a report by Times of India, Ramulu Naik, a Tenali Two Town Police official, stated: “The incident occurred nearly a month ago (in April 2025) when the trio, along with another individual identified as ‘Killer’, allegedly attacked Constable Kanna Chiranjeevi while under the influence of ganja. The constable was reportedly hospitalised following the assault. A case was subsequently registered based on his complaint.”
A report by Telugu media outlet ABN Andhra Jyothy stated that the accused attacked Constable Kanna Chiranjeevi in the Aitanagar area of Tenali town on 25 April 2025. Following this, a case was registered against the accused at the Tenali Two Town Police Station. They were arrested and produced before the court on 26 April 2025. The report further mentioned that DSP Janardhana Rao, responding to the viral video, said that a rowdy sheet had previously been opened against the three individuals. Despite multiple warnings, there had been no change in their behaviour.
A News18 report dated 27 May 2025 stated that the police officer seen striking the three individuals in the viral video had been suspended. Based on all this information, it is evident that the viral video shows Andhra Pradesh police assaulting three individuals who were accused of attacking a constable.
To sum it up, a video of Andhra Pradesh police thrashing three young men on their feet with a lathi on a road is being falsely shared, linking it to different states in India.