Fact check: Old picture of injured TN constable resurfaces with false communal spin

Hyderabad: An image of a blood-stained police uniform along with an injured man has gone viral on social media. Netizens claim that the injured man is an officer and was attacked by Muslim youth at Marina Beach in Chennai.

"Assistant Inspector Akhilan, who tried to stop 3 Muslim youths in Tiruvallikeni area from abusing women under the influence of cannabis at Marina Beach was attacked severely. Hundreds of Muslims besiege police," read the message

It also went on to suggest that Chennai is becoming a "Mini Pakistan".

Click here and here to view similar claims made by other users.

FACT CHECK:

Newsmeter performed a keyword search and found an article by The Times of India headlined: "Man held for assaulting policeman on patrol". It is dated August 22, 2017. The article states that police had arrested a 23-year-old youth for assaulting the Constable Akilan with a knife at Marina Beach.

Akilan was patrolling the beach when he found two men consuming alcohol. When he asked them to leave, they refused. Later they attacked him with a sharp object and injured him under the eye. Marina police were alerted and caught one individual identified as Hariram from Anna Nagar. Police booked him under charges of attempt to murder and remanded him to judicial custody.

Mylapore ACP Nelson, under whom the Marina police station falls, identified the attackers as Dhinesh Kumar and Hariram.

He also stated that they had taken cognizance of the fake news spreading on social media. "Constable Akhilan is still working with us. The men who attacked them were actually Hindus, not Muslim men. They were arrested and charged with an attempt to murder. The case is under trial," ACP nelson said.

This claim was also debunked by The Quint and India Today.

This picture was also found on a Facebook page, 'Tamil Nadu Police', an 'unauthorized page for awareness'. The page had posted the image on 21 August 2017. It stated that the policeman was attacked with a knife.

https://m.facebook.com/tamilnadu.police.in/photos/a.1712614522331440/1921397578119799/

Therefore, an old case from 2017 has been shared with a false communal spin. Hence the claim is false.