Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
Five people were arrested and a minor was apprehended for allegedly killing a man, identified as Shiva Gurjar, in Delhi’s Naraina on March 18 after an argument. Over a week after the incident, social media was rife with posts seeking ‘justice’ for Shiva Gurjar. Several Twitter users shared the video of an injured and bloody Shiva Gurjar on the side of the road, propped up by someone, claiming that Gurjar was killed by people belonging to the ‘Muslim’ community. Few posts also claimed that “Delhi Police stood watching” the incident. Newschecker found the claims to be misleading.
BJP leader Kapil Mishra was among several social media users who claimed that Shiva Gurjar’s murder was carried out in “Jihadi” or “Talibani” style. While several others claimed that Gurjar was killed by members of “ M community” over “petty issue” or was “lynched by Muslim mob.”
A six-second-long video where a man can be seen holding another who appears to be unconscious is going viral on Twitter. A police personnel can also be seen in the clip. Several Twitter users shared the video claiming to show that Delhi Police stood watching Shiva Gurjar’s murder.
Fact Check/Verification
To verify the veracity of the claim regarding the stabbing of a man in Delhi’s Naraina, Newschecker looked up keywords ‘Shiva Gurjar killed in Delhi’s Naraina’ and found multiple reports on the incident, one of which was a report by Hindustan Times, dated March 22, titled, ‘Four held, minor apprehended for murdering man over petty quarrel in Delhi’.
According to the report, on March 18, Shiva Gurjar along with his friends had gone to a pan shop near PVR Naraina where his bike reportedly brushed past one Vakil Ahmed, who worked as a salesperson at the shop which led to an altercation between them. Soon after, the owner of the paan shop, identified as Dharmendra Rai, and his sons also got involved in the argument and allegedly stabbed Gurjar to death.
“Police were told that Ahmed’s employer Dharmendra Rai and his two sons were also involved in assaulting Shiva. During the melee, Dharmendra allegedly took out a knife from his shop and handed it over to the juvenile who allegedly stabbed Shiva in the chest fatally. Shiva’s friends informed his family members about the stabbing and rushed him to Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital, where he was declared brought dead, the police said.”
A Times Of India report on the incident quoted Deputy commissioner of police (west) Ghanshyam Bansal as saying, “At the entry of the complex’s parking area, Shiva’s motorcycle hit one Vakil (23), who is a sales boy at a paan shop. This led to a quarrel between them. Vakil then called other employees and the owner of the shop. All of them overpowered Shiva and the juvenile stabbed him in his chest with a knife.”
The report added, “A case under sections 302 (murder) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of IPC was registered at Naraina police station. Five people were held from west Delhi on Saturday and the knife was recovered.”
Other reports related to the incident can be read here, here and here. However, none of the reports mentioned anything about the communal angle to the matter, nor the presence of police during the alleged killing of Gurjar.
A report by the Hindustan Times, dated March 28, stated that Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Ghanshyam Bansal said that the incident is being a given communal colour on social media–which is baseless.
India Today reported, “Some political leaders claimed that Shiva was murdered mercilessly by people of another community. However, the police dismissed any communal angle to the murder.”
Newschecker looked up the official Twitter account of the Delhi police and found a video message by DCP West Ghanshyam Bansal with the caption, “Delhi police has taken immediate action on the murder of the youth in Narayana police station area of Western district. @DCPWestDelhi stated that the matter is not related to communal, but to mutual fight. All the accused related to the incident have been arrested,” in Hindi.
“There is a lot of misinformation regarding this incident on Twitter and other places. I want to clarify that the incident took place on the night of March 18-19 at around 9:30. A man died in the incident. Police rushed to the spot immediately after receiving the information about the incident. The victim was rushed to the hospital, but he could not be saved. An FIR was registered and the accused were arrested within 12 hours and the weapon of offence was also recovered. There was no leniency observed in the investigation,” DCP can be heard saying in the video.
He added, “I want to tell you that the deceased and the main accused, as per the FIR, belong to the same community. The communal colour given to the incident is completely baseless. You should see it as an offence and we did an appropriate investigation in the matter.”
Notably, among the five accused only one is Muslim and the main accused belonged to the same community as the deceased.
We continued our investigation and found reports regarding the viral video. According to a report by India TV according to the Delhi police sources, the man seen in the video is the victim’s known and not the killer.
Another report by Times Now corroborated that the man is not the killer, rather known to the deceased.
Newschecker also reached out to Nariana SHO Hari Kishan who dismissed the communal angle given to the matter. “A fight broke out between them and Dharmendra Rai’s nephew stabbed the victim in the heart leading to his death. The police personnel reached the spot and arrested the five accused,” he told us.
Talking about the viral video, SHO Kishan said, “The man seen in the video is a friend of the deceased who had kept his hand on Gujar’s chest to avoid blood loss.”
Conclusion
The viral claim that people belonging to the Muslim community killed Hindu ‘Shiva Gurjar’ is misleading. There is no communal angle to the matter.
Result: Misleading Content/Partly False
Sources
Official Twitter Account Of Delhi Police
Telephonic Conversation With Naraina SHO Hari Kishan
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Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
