Video of a police constable caught stealing in a mall in Lucknow is passed off with a communal narrative - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 6, 2021
A post accompanying a video of a group of people manhandling and undressing a man in Police uniform is being shared with a claim that the video shows people manhandling a Muslim soldier named Salim who tried to steal garments in a mall. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of people thrashing Salim, a soldier who tried to steal garments in a mall.
Fact: The video actually shows a mob beating up a UP police constable Adesh Kumar for stealing in a mall in Lucknow. Multiple regional Hindi news agencies reported the incident. His name is not Salim. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Google search with relevant keywords led us to a Hindi regional news article that reported the same video. According to the article, the video shows a mob beating up a police constable for stealing t-shirts in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
Further search led us to another regional news article dated 26 February 2021 which reported the same video. As per this article, Adesh Kumar, a UP police constable was caught stealing a t-shirt from V-Mart mall in Hussainganj. The article also reported Lucknow police Commissioner DK Thakur saying constable Adesh Kumar was suspended after the incident came to light. Another news article reported that an FIR has been registered against those who have beaten up the police constable. Another news article that reported the incident can be read here. None of these news reports mentioned that the accused is a Muslim named Salim.
To sum it up, video of police constable caught stealing in a mall in Lucknow is passed off with a communal spin.