A video showing a police officer speaking to a large public gathering, seemingly a protest, is going viral on social media platforms. In the video, the officer can be heard calling the protestors traitors and accusing them of working against the interests of the Indian government. The clip is being shared with the claim that it shows the officer warning the protestors to quietly hand over the land to Adani without any protest, otherwise you are a traitor, and action will be taken against you (here, here, here, here, here, and here). Through this article, we fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: The video shows a police officer warning the protestors to hand over the land to Adani without any protest, while calling them traitors.
Fact: This video shows a police officer speaking to protestors during a protest held by Sarna tribals on 31 May 2025 at Mahadani Maidan in Bero, Ranchi, Jharkhand over a land dispute, in which 1.05 acres of land belonging to the Sarna community were allegedly encroached. The protest has no connection to Adani. Speaking to Factly, Shivam Tirkam, a Sarna tribal leader who participated in the demonstration and has been named as A1 in the case registered by the Bero police, confirmed that the protest was unrelated to Adani and that the land dispute has been ongoing for many years. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
To verify the details of the viral video, we conducted a Google reverse image search using keyframes from the video. This search led us to extended versions of the video uploaded in June 2025 on YouTube and Facebook (here, here). According to the descriptions of these videos, the viral clip shows a protest held by tribals in Bero (also spelt as Bedo), Ranchi, Jharkhand.
We then contacted a local journalist who had shared this video in June 2025. Speaking to us, he confirmed that the viral video shows a protest held by Sarna tribals in Bero, Ranchi, Jharkhand. To obtain more details about the incident, he advised us to speak with Shivam Tirkam, a Sarna tribal leader who had participated in the protest, and provided us with his phone number.
We then contacted Shivam Tirkam, a Sarna tribal leader and native of Chhindwara district, Madhya Pradesh. Speaking to Factly, Shivam Tirkam stated that the video relates to a protest held at Mahadani Maidan in Bero, Ranchi, by Sarna tribals over a land dispute on 31 May 2025, in which he had also participated. He clarified that the protest had no connection with Adani. He further explained that approximately 1.05 acres of land at Mahadani Maidan, belonging to Sarna tribals, had been encroached upon over the years. Despite multiple complaints to government authorities regarding the encroachment of their land in Beddo, Ranchi district, no action was taken. Consequently, on 31 May 2025, Sarna tribals gathered at Mahadani Maidan to protest the encroachment and attempted to construct a compound wall around their land. Discussions between the administration and Sarna religious leaders continued throughout the day, during which an altercation occurred with the police. Shivam Tirkam added that this land dispute has been ongoing for many years.
Multiple media outlets also reported on this land dispute and the protests (here, here, here, here, and here). According to these reports, on the night of 31 May 2025, agitating Sarna tribal people attacked and vandalised the Bero police station, injuring several policemen. None of these reports mentioned any connection between the land dispute and Adani.
Bero police have registered a case against tribal leader Shivam Tirkam as A1 in this incident. The FIR can be found here.
To sum it up, this viral video shows a police officer speaking to protestors during a demonstration held at Mahadani Maidan in Bero, Ranchi, by Sarna tribals on 31 May 2025 over a land dispute.
