Ambulance Driver Thrashed For ‘Killing’ Patients? Claim is False

The video is from Jalna and it shows a group of police personnel hitting a BJP functionary.

The viral video falsely claims that an ambulance driver was beat up for his misdeeds in Telangana.

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)

A viral video showing a group of police personnel thrashing a man with canes is being widely shared on social media claiming that it shows cops beating up an ambulance driver, who allegedly turned off the oxygen cylinder supply line in a Telangana hospital.

In the video, the man can be heard apologising and pleading for the cops to stop.

However, we found that the incident had occurred at Deepak Hospital in Jalna, Maharashtra and showed BJP Yuva Morcha General Secretary Shivraj Nariyalwale being beaten up by cops as he was a part of a group that reportedly created ruckus after their patient passed away.

CLAIM

The video is being shared with a claim that reads, “When the police caught the ambulance driver who turned off the oxygen cylinder line at the hospital in Nizamabad, Telangana.”

It further added that he had done this since “no one had died in the past two-three days and the ambulance ‘wasn’t getting any business’.”

An archived version of the viral claim can be found here. 

(Image: Facebook/Screenshot)

The video was shared by many users on Facebook (and can be seen here & here) and those claiming the same on Twitter can be found here and here.

The Quint received queries regarding the claim on its WhatsApp tipline as well.

WHAT WE FOUND

We paid close attention to the audio of the clip and found that the man being thrashed was pleading in Marathi.

Using InVID, a Google Chrome video verification extension, we fragmented the video into keyframes and ran a reverse image search. This led us to news reports published by ABP Majha on 27 May.

(Source: ABP Majha/Screenshot)

We found another report Divya Marathi which mentioned that on 9 April an argument ensued between the hospital authorities and the relatives of a patient who passed away.

As per the report, the authorities informed the police and the matter escalated. Nariyalwale, who was with the relatives of the patient, was dragged by the police and beaten up.

We also found a tweet by news agency ANI on 27 May with stills from the viral video.

(Source: ANI/Screenshot)

We further contacted Vinayak Deshmukh, superintendent of police, Jalna, who shared the details of the case with us and told us that the viral claim was false.

“This video is from Jalna and the man was beaten up because he was a part of a group that was creating ruckus after their patient died. Prima facie, one cop has been found to be at fault and he has been suspended.”

Vinayak Deshmukh, SP, Jalna

According to another report in The New Indian Express, the police said that Nariyalwale was a part of a group that “beat up doctors and went on a rampage in the ICU” at Deepak Hospital in Jalna after a youth admitted there succumbed to his injuries following a road accident. The group, comprising of the deceased’s relatives, accused the doctors of negligence and turned hostile.

Evidently, the viral video does not show cops beating up an ambulance driver for stopping supply to oxygen cylinders in Nizamabad, Telangana and is from Jalna, Maharashtra where a BJP worker was thrashed for being a part of a group that caused a ruckus inside a hospital.

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