Video of a murder from Andhra Pradesh is being linked to Delhi with a false communal narrative
A disturbing video of a man brutally attacking another person with a machete (sharp weapon) on a road is being widely shared across social media platforms with the claim that it shows a Muslim man named Javed brutally attacking a Hindu man named Rohit to death near the Sarai Kale Khan area in Delhi (here, here, here & here). In this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video showing a Muslim man named Javed brutally killing a Hindu man named Rohit in Delhi.
Fact: There is no communal angle involved in this incident. The visuals in the viral video show a murder that occurred in Vinukonda, Palnadu district, Andhra Pradesh, on the night of 17 July 2024. According to news reports and the police, the name of the deceased is Sheikh Rashid, and the name of the accused is Sheikh Jilani. Both the accused and the deceased in this incident are from the Muslim community. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
To verify the viral claim and learn more about the viral video, we conducted a Google reverse image search using keyframes from the video. This search led us to a news report published by the ‘Indian Express’ on 19 July 2024, featuring visuals from the viral video.
According to the report, 27-year-old Sheikh Rashid, a youth leader of the YSRCP, was hacked to death by a man named Jilani on the main road of Vinukonda town in Andhra Pradesh’s Palnadu district on the night of 17 July 2024. The report further states that the YSRCP alleges the murder was politically motivated and that the accused has links with the TDP. Meanwhile, the police suggest that the murder was the result of an old rivalry between the deceased and the accused over a real estate business. Furthermore, we found several other news reports confirming that this incident occurred in Andhra Pradesh, with the victim named Sheikh Rashid and the accused named Sheikh Jilani. These reports can be seen here, here, and here.
We also found a post shared on the official Facebook page of the Palnadu Police on 26 July 2024, featuring a press conference video from the local Vinukonda police regarding this incident. In the video, the police stated that Sheikh Jilani, who stabbed Sheikh Rashid to death near the Mullamuru bus stand in Vinukonda town on 17 July 2024, has been arrested and remanded, and that there is no political angle involved in the murder.
We then visited the official website of the Andhra Pradesh police and accessed the FIR filed in this case. According to FIR (184/2024), the individuals accused in this incident are Jilani, Pathan Abubakar Siddique (alias Siddhu), Shafi, Imran, Ambulance Rafi, Gym Jani, and Sayiba. The name of the deceased is Sheikh Rashid. From this information, it is clear that the viral video shows a murder that took place in Andhra Pradesh’s Palnadu district and that there is no communal angle involved in this incident, as both the accused and the deceased are Muslims.
To sum up, a video of a murder from Andhra Pradesh is being linked to Delhi with a false communal narrative.