Photos of AAP Workers Falsely Shared As Man Who Slapped Kejriwal
The person in this photo is not the same as the one who slapped Kejriwal on Saturday.
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A set of photos of men in red shirts are viral as that of the man who slapped Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday, 4 May.
Photo 1
The first photo shows a man clad in a red shirt, donning the Aam Aadmi Party's cap, along with other members from the party. The photo has been shared by one Rajkamal Patel, and has been shared over 130 times at the time of writing this article.
Patel's Facebook bio describes hims as a 'social worker' with BJP Delhi.
The photo has also been shared by one Meet Jaihind on Facebook, and has garnered over 710 shares at the time of writing this article.
The photo has also been shared by a BSP worker on Facebook.
TRUE OR FALSE?
The person in this photo is not the same as the one who slapped Kejriwal on Saturday. Kejriwal's assaulter has been identified as one Suresh, who works as a scrap parts dealer in Delhi, whereas the person in this photo is Sushil Chauhan, who is the Delhi President of the party's JJ Cell.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
A comment on Patel's post alerted us to the fact that the person in the photo is not Suresh but Chauhan.
When we searched Facebook for 'Sushil Chauhan AAP', we came across his Facebook profile, where the same picture was uploaded from a different angle.
The only similarity between Kejriwal's assaulter and Chauhan is the colour of their shirt. In fact, even the pants worn by the two people are different.
While Suresh, in the video, is seen wearing a dark-coloured pant, Chauhan, in the photo, is seen wearing a white pair of pants.
Photo 2
The second photo claiming to be that of the man who assaulted Kejriwal shows NDTV India’s Ravish Kumar as well in the photo, as a man donning a red shirt leans over him.
The photo, shared by one Sanjay Goel, had over 1.5 k shares as the time of writing this article.
TRUE OR FALSE?
The man seen in the photo is not Kejriwal’s assaulter as claimed. This particular photograph is from AAP’s South Delhi candidate Raghav Chadha’s 1 May campaign, when he was interviewed by Ravish Kumar.
The person in this photo can be seen at 24 minutes into the video. The Quint, however, could not ascertain the identity of this person.
Meanwhile, the attack on Kejriwal took place on 4 May, ie three days after this interview.
Further, according to Saurabh Trivedi, a senior journalist with The Hindu, the daily accessed videos from the day to ascertain the identity of Suresh, the man who slapped Kejriwal and found out that he was a regular feature at most of Kejriwal’s rallies.
KEJRIWAL'S ATTACJKER 'DISENCHANTED AAP SUPPORTER'
However, it is important to note that a primary investigation by the Delhi police has reportedly revealed that Suresh was a disgruntled Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supporter.
Speaking to news agency PTI, the police said Suresh, who is a scrap dealer in the area, had been an AAP supporter and used to work as an organiser of the party's rallies and meetings. Suresh had said he had got disenchanted due to the behaviour of party leaders and he was angered further due to the party's "distrust in the armed forces", the police had said.
However, AAP has rejected the Delhi police’s claims, calling it ‘shameful’.
"The Delhi police is planting that the man belonged to the AAP. This is really shameful given the fact that the attacker's wife has herself said he was a Modi 'bhakt' (ardent supporter) and did not like anyone talking against Modi," AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj had said on Saturday.
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