Fact Check: Video of attack on Doctor in Nashik peddled with false communal spin

A disturbing video depicting a man attacking another person with a sickle while seated on a sofa is circulating on social media. The accompanying text claims that a Muslim man assaulted a doctor in Nashik's Suyog Hospital in Maharashtra.

“Take heart and watch today's most heart-wrenching video. In Maharashtra, Nashik's Suyog Hospital, a Jihadi attacker entered the ICU and attacked Dr. Kailash Rathi with a sharp weapon due to multiple indiscriminate attacks in 30 seconds,” wrote the X user who shared the video.

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Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading. The video does show Dr Kailash Rathi being attacked; however, the communal angle added to it is false.

Upon a reverse image search of the video’s keyframe, we found a screengrab from it in a report by NDTV published on February 25. The report is titled “On CCTV, Man Strikes Doctor 18 Times With Sickle At Maharashtra Hospital.”

As per the channel, the incident was captured on CCTV. It shows Dr Kailas Rathi (48), director of a hospital in the Panchvati area of Nashik, who was attacked nearly 18 times with a sickle. It also mentioned that the husband of one of the victim's former employees has been arrested for the attack.

The Indian Express also carried the screengrab from the video in a report published on February 26, stating that the assailant is the husband of the Doctor’s former colleague. It mentioned that a case has been registered against the former staffer and her husband on the complaint of the doctor’s wife.

According to a Times of India report, police arrested the assailant, Rajendra More, on February 24. The report mentioned that More’s wife used to work at Dr. Rathi’s clinic, and the attack was a fallout of a personal dispute related to the couple taking money from Dr. Rathi over a property deal.

We accessed the FIR filed by Dr Reena Rathi, the wife of Dr Kailash Rathi, on February 24. It identifies Rajendra Chandrkant More and his wife, Rohini Dutta More, as the accused and also cites a money-related dispute.

Hence, we conclude that the accused and victims involved in this incident belong to the same community, and the communal angle added to it is misleading.