A video depicting a man severing his finger is currently being shared along with an assertion stating that in Tamil Nadu, an individual amputated his finger because he had used it to cast a vote for the Congress party and was dissatisfied with the lack of justice from the Congress-led government. The same video is also being shared attributing it to other political parties, across states. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of a man in Tamil Nadu severing his finger due to lack of justice from the Congress led government.
Fact: These visuals show a recent incident reported in Maharashtra’s Satara district, where a man chopped off one of his fingers, alleging inaction from police against those responsible for driving his brother and sister-in-law to commit suicide. Several news agencies reported the visuals. These visuals have nothing to do with Tamil Nadu or the Congress party. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
While the video shows a man cutting off his finger, it’s worth mentioning that this incident didn’t take place in Tamil Nadu and the motive, behind this action, has nothing to do with any discontent, towards the Congress party.
Relevant keyword search yielded multiple news reports that identified the same visuals as an incident that occurred in Satara district, Maharashtra (here, here & here). According to these reports, Dhananjaya Nanaware, a 43-year-old individual, amputated one of his fingers, claiming that the police had not acted against those responsible for driving his brother and sister-in-law to commit suicide.
Earlier Dhananjaya’s brother and sister-in-law ended their lives by jumping off a building. Before this, the couple recorded a video in which they named several people to be responsible for the suicide. Further, Dhananjay Nanaware warned the state government that he would chop off a body part every week if the government did not take any action.
This clearly establishes that the video is unrelated to Tamil Nadu or the Congress party. Furthermore, there are no reports of any similar incident in Tamil Nadu, alleging the Congress party of injustice.
Previously, the same video circulated widely, with claims that the man had amputated his finger due to perceived injustice from the BJP/YSRCP government. A report from FACTLY that refutes these claims can be viewed here.
To sum it up, the video depicting a man amputating his finger in Maharashtra is being shared with a false attribution to the Congress party in Tamil Nadu.