Old video of street brawl in Mumbai falsely linked to post-poll violence in West Bengal
- Published on May 12, 2026 at 13:10
- 3 min read
- By Devesh MISHRA, AFP India
At least five people have been killed in clashes in West Bengal after the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept into power in the state elections in May 2026, but an old video of a man beating another person in the middle of a road is unrelated to the violence. The video had circulated weeks before the polls and actually shows a scuffle in the western state of Maharashtra.
"Welcome to the new BJP era. TMC workers face brutal assaults, allegedly by BJP-backed mobs. Where are the central forces? Where is AmitShah's massive security deployment?" reads an X post shared on May 6, referring to the rival All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) party.
The attached footage shows a man stomping on another person in the middle of a busy road.
The video was also shared in similar Facebook and X posts after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP recorded a landslide victory in elections in West Bengal, ending the TMC's 15-year rule in the state (archived link).
At least five people have been killed in post-election violence since the results were announced on May 4, including a close aide of West Bengal's BJP chief Suvendu Adhikari (archived link).
The state has a history of poll-related violence. The Indian interior ministry announced ahead of the election that extra security forces would be deployed in the state (archived link).
"BJP goons are killing openly, is the administration sleeping?" reads a comment on one of the posts, while another wrote: "After all, where are the security forces that these BJP goons are openly doing whatever they want?"
But the clip actually shows a brawl in the Maharashtra state in western India, weeks before the election.
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the same footage shared on Instagram on April 15 (archived link).
The Roman Hindi caption of the post reads: "A serious assault case has come to light from the Versova area of Andheri West in Mumbai, where a group of individuals attacked a man. Mohammad Zaid Sheikh was assaulted by three to four men who arrived in a rickshaw."
Senior Inspector Deepshikha Waare of Versova police station told AFP in a phone call on May 12: "This video is from Maharashtra and has no connection whatsoever to the election-related violence in West Bengal."
"The assault took place on April 9 following a verbal altercation, and police have since arrested all the accused. The victim's family members had presented the video as evidence."
A local Marathi media outlet also published the video in a report, where the victim's parents told the outlet: "This happened on April 9, our son was beaten by four people due to a mutual dispute. We want justice from the police." (archived link)
The article goes on to say reports were filed against four people in the case, and two were arrested.
AFP also geolocated the site to the Versova area of Andheri East in Mumbai, where visual features match those seen in the falsely shared video (archived link).
AFP has debunked other false claims related to the state elections in West Bengal.
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