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A gruesome video showing a deceased police officer lying in a pool of blood has gone viral with a false claim that he was killed by "goons supported by Mamata Banerjee" in Kolkata.
The claim goes on to add that the "goons" then threatened the deceased's companion, who can be seen in the video.
However, we found that the claim shared with the viral video was false. The deceased was identified as a police constable with the fifth battalion of the Kolkata Armed Police, Choudup Lepcha.
Additionally, news reports from the day of the incident said that the protests were happening about a kilometre away from where Lepcha opened fire.
CLAIM
Those sharing the viral video wrote a caption that read, "कलकत्ता मे ममता बनर्जी के समर्थन पाये हुवे दंगाइयों ने पुलिस वाले को मार डाला, उसके बाद उसके साथी को भी धमकी भी दे रहे हैं ।"
[Translation: In Kolkata, the rioters who got the support of Mamata Banerjee killed the cop, after which they also threatened his partner.]
(Note: We have refrained from including any links to the video due to the distressing nature of the visuals.)
We also found that the video was being shared on WhatsApp.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We then looked for video reports on the same and found a news report by NDTV that carries similar visuals. However, due to the gruesome nature of the incident, the video is blurred.
A report in Hindustan Times has quoted Additional Commissioner of Police, Praveen Kumar Tripathi as saying that the incident seemingly has no connection with the protests, but the matter is being investigated.
Eyewitnesses quoted in news reports, too, mention that the constable fired indiscriminately in the middle of the road, before shooting self.
Evidently, an incident involving the suicide of a police constable was shared with false claims.
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