Fact Check: Old video from Odisha passed off as Rohingyas resorting to vandalism in West Bengal

Hyderabad: A video showing mobs hurling bombs and attacking police is going viral on social media. Users claim that it shows Rohingyas brought by Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee from Bangladesh are resorting to vandalism in West Bengal.

A Twitter user shared the video. The English caption of the video read: “Mamata Banerjee brought the Rohingyas from Bangladesh and gave them ration cards, voter ID, and homes. These rakshasas are now with the TMC goons killing the whole of West Bengal and burning houses.”

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the video dates back to 2021 and is from Odisha.

On performing a reverse image search of the video’s keyframe, we came across a video report by Odisha-based ONA Khabar published on January 14, 2021, which showed visuals similar to the viral video. The report is titled “Protest over the man's death At Bhadrak.”

Another Odisha-based News Channel, Kalinga TV, published a video report on January 13, 2021, titled “Locals Sets Police Van Ablaze After Youth Dies Allegedly Being Beaten Up By Cops.” This report also showed the same visuals as seen in the viral video.

As per a report by Odhisa TV from January 13, 2019, residents of a village in Bhadrak district set a police van on fire after the body of a youth identified as Bapi Mahalik was recovered from a pond. Mahalik was interrogated by the police regarding a case. His family alleged that Mahalik was assaulted by police during the questioning. Upset over the alleged assault, he took his life by jumping into a pond.

Another report by Sambad also reported the incident with the same details.

Hence, we conclude that the video showing violence is from Odisha, not West Bengal. The claim is false.