Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
Ola EV customers in Karnataka set fire to an Ola showroom due to the company’s failure to service their vehicles for months.
Fact
Viral video has been shared out of context following the recent Twitter row between Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal and comedian Kunal Kamra.
A 32-second video, purportedly showing clouds of black smoke billowing from an Ola showroom, has gone viral following a heated exchange on X between comedian Kunal Kamra and Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal over the company’s electric scooters on Sunday.
“Ola EV customers in Karnataka are setting fire to an Ola showroom due to the company’s failure to service their vehicles for months. Meanwhile, CEO Bhavish Aggarwal is preoccupied with mocking Kunal Kamra for exposing the facts publicly. This reflects a troubling level of arrogance,” read one such X post, sharing the video.
The archived version of the tweet can be seen here.
Aggarwal Clashes With Kamra Over EV Service Issue
Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal and comedian Kunal Kamra were engaged in a heated spat after the latter flagged the service centre situation of the company’s electric scooters. The argument reportedly began when Kamra took to his official X account and posted an image showing a large number of EV scooters being parked at an Ola service centre, which irked Bhavish Aggarwal who accused the comedian of taking money to share critical posts against the company. Even as social media users acknowledged that both sides made worthy arguments, many took issue with Aggarwal’s language, calling it unworthy of a public personality.
Fact Check
Newschecker ran a reverse image search of keyframes, which led us to this X post by Indian Startup News, dated September 11, 2024, sharing the same video. According to the post, a 26-year-old man, Mohammad Nadeem, set fire to an Ola Electric showroom in Kalaburagi, North Karnataka, on September 10 following frustrations over unresolved issues with his electric scooter. Similar posts can be seen here and here.
A Times of India tweet on September 12, 2024, sharing a similar video of the incident can be seen here, which confirms that the viral clip predates the Aggarwal-Kamra controversy.
We also came across multiple news reports on the incident seen here, here and here. “A customer of an Ola electric scooter in Karnataka’s Kalaburagi set a showroom on fire over an alleged lack of proper customer support for his newly purchased electric vehicle. The 26-year-old man, Mohammad Nadeem, had a heated altercation with the customer support executives at the showroom on Tuesday and set the showroom ablaze after pouring petrol, according to police. Six vehicles and the computer systems were gutted in the fire,” read an India Today report, dated September 11, 2024.
Also Read: Viral Video Claiming To Show Boat Capsizing In Goa Is Actually From Congo
Conclusion
Old video of Ola Showroom set on fire in Karnataka by disgruntled customer shared as recent incident against the backdrop of the heated Twitter exchange between Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal and comedian Kunal Kamra.
Result: Missing Context
Sources
Times of India tweet, September 12, 2024
India Today report, September 11, 2024
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
