Fact Check: Video of car on fire in Delhi falsely shared as assassination of RAW officer

Hyderabad: A video of a car on fire on a busy road is circulating on social media. Those sharing the video claim that it shows Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) officer Vikash Senthiya being killed by unidentified assailants who threw a hand grenade into his car.

The text in the video also alleged that Senthiya was involved in the murder of a Sikh in Canada.

An X handle, Pakistan First, shared the video and wrote, “Uttam Nagar, New Delhi Indian intelligence officer Vikash killed by unknown men when they lobbed a hand grenade in his car.” (Archive)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found the claim is false as the car caught fire due to overheating and has nothing to do with Vikash Senthiya.

Upon conducting a reverse image search of the video’s keyframe, we discovered it was posted by the X handles of news agency IANS and India Daily Live on May 14. These handles reported that the incident occurred in Delhi’s Uttam Nagar. They mentioned that the cause of the sudden fire remains unknown and that there were no casualties.

For further confirmation, we reached out to Uttam Nagar’s SHO Rajesh Kumar who confirmed that the claim that the video shows an attack on an Intelligence officer is false. He said, “The car while running on the road suddenly caught fire due to excessive heating.” He added, “No casualties and the man driving the car saved himself by getting off in time.”

Murder in Canada

Further, we checked about the murder of a Sikh man in Canada and came across a report from The Economics Times dated May 12. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) arrested three Indian nationals, Karan Brar (22), Kamalpreet Singh (22) and Karanpreet Singh (28) on May 3 and Amardeep Singh (22) on May 11 in connection with the killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada.

We also found that Vikash Senthiya is an IPS officer of the 2023 batch. He is currently enrolled at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy – India’s civil service training institution, as per his LinkedIn and Facebook profiles

Hence, we conclude that the claim of a video of a burning car showing the assassination of an alleged RAW officer is false.