Video of currency notes in Indore falsely viral as 'Muslim conspiracy' to spread coronavirus
The story was first published by Altnews.in (read the original post by clicking here.)
A video where a few policemen are seen picking up notes with sticks from a roadside and placing them inside a bag is doing the rounds on social media. It is being claimed that a member of the Muslim community had thrown Rs 100, Rs 200 and Rs 500 notes to spread coronavirus.
Is this New Modas operandi !!
— जय श्री राम Bultyy Jaglan ???? (@bultyy_jaglan) April 16, 2020
Currency notes lying unclaimed on road triggered panic in Hira Nagar area of Indore – a city which has emerged as one the prime #Covid19India hotspots in the country.#StayAlert #StayHomeStaySafe#घरमेंरहेंस्वस्थरहें
pic.twitter.com/NlAUYTOJxS
Twitter handle @SortedEagle posted this video with the message, “They’ve found a new way to spread the virus now. A resident of this area in Indore saw a Muslim chap scatter currency notes of 100, 200 & 500 in the locality for people to pick up & get infected. Police was called & they collected them with protection. 10 grand scattered around.” It has been retweeted more than 1,200 times so far.
This video has also been shared on Facebook with a similar narrative. It is also getting shared with a message in Tamil. The message claims that Muslims in West Bengal are throwing notes on road to spread the virus.
The video has been shared with a message in Hindi as well. However, the Hindi text doesn’t give any communal angle to the incident. Alt News has received several requests on its Android application to fact-check this video.
Fact-check
With a Google search, Alt News found a report published by Dainik Jagran on April 17, 2020. According to the report, the incident took place at Indore’s Khatipura-Gori Nagar road on Thursday. People informed the police after seeing some notes scattered on the road after which they sanitised the notes and ceased them. Furthermore, the police went through the footage of near-by CCTV camera but they couldn’t find a suspected vehicle or a person. The report nowhere identified the person suspected of having thrown the notes as a Muslim.
We then reached out to Hira Nagar police station regarding this matter. In conversation with Alt News, station in-charge Rajiv Bhaduria said, “It is clear that any person or a Muslim didn’t deliberate scatter the notes. Actually, the notes fell from the pocket of an Indane gas delivery guy. The person’s name is Narendra Yadav and he is a resident of Indore’s Gauri Nagar. Yadav had come to us to know about the notes. After listening to his story, we checked the CCTV footage and it became clear that these were his notes.”
Thus, it is certain that these notes in Khatipura area of Indore were not deliberately thrown on the roadside by a member of the Muslim community to spread the coronavirus. A similar incident took place in Delhi with a man who had borrowed money from an ATM. A video of that incident was also shared with an anti-Muslim angle on social media.
Note: The number of positive cases of the novel coronavirus in India exceeds 17,000 and over to 500 deaths have so far been reported. The government has imposed a complete restriction on movement apart from essential services to tackle the pandemic. Globally, more than 24 lakh confirmed cases and close to 1.6 lakh deaths have been reported. There is a sense of panic among citizens, causing them to fall for a variety of online misinformation – misleading images and videos rousing fear or medical misinformation promoting pseudoscience and invalid treatments. While your intentions may be pure, misinformation, spread especially during a pandemic, can take lives. We request our readers to practice caution and not forward unverified messages on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.
The story was first published by Altnews.in (read the original post by clicking here.)
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Voting underway for local body elections in Gujarat
Ahmedabad (PTI): Voting got underway on Sunday morning for elections to several local bodies in Gujarat, including 15 municipal corporations and 84 municipalities.
Polling began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm, as per the schedule announced by the State Election Commission.
The elections are being held for 15 municipal corporations, including Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot, 84 municipalities, 34 district panchayats and 260 taluka panchayats, making it one of the largest electoral exercises in the state.
A total of 9,992 candidates are in the fray, with more than 4.18 crore voters eligible to exercise their franchise.
A three-tier security is in place, aided by CCTV surveillance and deployment of special squads in sensitive areas, police officials said.
The polls are being conducted under revised norms for Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservations, and required extensive delimitation and restructuring of wards in several districts.
The ruling BJP, Opposition Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have emerged as the key players, while All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) is also contesting in several places.
Among notable candidates are former Gujarat-cadre IPS officer M L Ninama, ex-radio jockey Abha Desai, and former AAP MLA Bhupendra Bhayani.
Ninama is contesting from the Odh seat in Shamlaji taluka for the Arvalli district panchayat elections, while the BJP has nominated Bhayani from the Bhesan seat of the Junagadh district panchayat.
Desai, popularly known as RJ Abha, is contesting as a Congress candidate from ward number 10 of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation.
Elections are also being held for the first time in nine newly-created municipal corporations, including Navsari, Gandhidham, Morbi, Vapi, Anand, Nadiad, Mehsana, Porbandar and Surendranagar.
Counting of votes will take place on April 28.
Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel campaigned extensively for the BJP.
The AAP had taken the lead over other parties in launching the campaign, with its national convenor, Arvind Kejriwal, and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann addressing several rallies across Gujarat.
In a first for AAP, the Kejriwal-led party is contesting around 5,000 seats in local polls.
Other contestants include the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Independents.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi campaigned in the final phase, addressing public meetings in Ahmedabad and Bhuj.
In March 2021, the BJP scored a landslide win in the local polls in Gujarat, winning 6,236 out of 8,470 seats across various municipalities and establishing a wide gap with rival Congress.
The BJP had then dominated all six municipal corporations, besides 81 municipalities, 32 district panchayats, and 231 taluka panchayats.
