The fact-checking body Rumor Scanner in an investigation has found that a video of a Muslim Awami League chairman's murder has been falsely circulated in India since last August claiming that a Hindu old man was killed in Bangladesh.
In a report published on its website on Monday, the fact-checking body said two videos have been circulating on social media claiming that a Hindu old man was beaten to death by Muslims and then hung from a statue.
The investigation by the Rumor Scanner Team revealed that the man who was seen being beaten to death and hung from a statue in those videos was not a Hindu old man.
In fact, these are scenes of a Muslim man being beaten, named Shahidul Islam Hiron, then-chairman of Porahati union in Jhenaidah and afterwards hanging from an idol at Payra Chattar of the district in August.
During the investigation, two videos were found being posted on August 5 from two accounts named Rukon Shehabi Rukon and RJ Moon.
Similarities can be seen between the said videos and the videos discussed.
Both posts claimed that the body in the video belonged to a chairman named Hiron from Jhenaidah.
By searching with relevant keywords based on name and location, a report titled "The controversial Hiron chairman could not survive even after opening fire" was found on the Dhaka Post website on August 5.
The report revealed that on August 5 afternoon, after the fall of the Awami League government, Shahidul Islam Hiron, the general secretary of Jhenaidah Sadar upazila Awami League and chairman of Porahati union and, his driver Akhter Hossain were hacked and torched to death.
After the murder, Hiron's body was hung in the city centre's Payra Chattar.
A report published in the Kalbela newspaper on the same day revealed that on the afternoon of August 5, bullets were fired at the protesters as they surrounded Hiron's house, injuring several people.
Later, the mob set fire to the house and Hiron and four others died in the fire.
The angry crowd took Hiran's body to the city's Payra Chattar in a van.
To further confirm the matter, the Rumor Scanner team collected images of Payra Chattar from Google Maps and compared them with the structures visible in the videos.
The analysis shows that the structures visible in the video are exactly the same as the structures of Payra Chattar.
Therefore, the video of the killing of Muslim Chairman Shahidul Islam Hiron for political reasons is being circulated in India with the claim that a Hindu old man was beaten and hung from a statue in Bangladesh; which is completely false.
