No, this is not a photo of an Indian train driver committing suicide after a deadly crash
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on October 25, 2018 at 11:00
- 2 min read
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The photos and video show a man’s body hanging from a bridge.
The images have been widely shared on social media with a caption saying: “Amritsar train driver committed suicide.”
AFP has chosen not to reproduce the photographs and video here or link to them due to their graphic nature. Facebook has removed posts which include the images.
A motorcycle can be seen at the end of the video. The vehicle was registered to Harpal Singh in Punjab state, according to India’s Ministry of Road Transport & Highways.
Local police said the body in the images was that of Harpal Singh, 32, who committed suicide on October 20.
“Harpal was suffering from depression for past couple of years, he has stated the same in his suicide note. The man was found hanging early morning near a canal,” senior police official Gurwinder Singh told AFP.
A photograph of a letter is being shared alongside the images of Harpal Singh’s body and multiple Facebook posts claim it is a suicide letter.
Northern Railways said the text is actually train driver Arvind Kumar’s statement to police and describes the sequence of events that led to the accident. It does not mention suicide.
A Google reverse image search found the statement was first tweeted by the Indian news agency, ANI.
Northern Railways said the train driver involved in the Amritsar accident, Arvind Kumar, had not killed himself.
“There is absolutely no truth of him dying. He is alive and continuing with his duty. Reports of his death are false,” said Northern Railways spokesman Deepak Kumar.
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