A photo of a Delhi police officer patrolling during a recent anti-Citizenship act protest is viral with an image of a Rashtriya Swayam Sevak (RSS) member, falsely claiming that both are the same. BOOM was able to identify that the policeman is Vinod Narang, senior inspector at the Connaught Place police station while the RSS member is Ashok Dogra, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader from Rajasthan.
The capital is currently seeing widespread protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Registry of Citizens. The protests led by students intensified after the Delhi police allegedly beat up students from Jamia Milia University during a protest.
The video of the Delhi police officer went viral amid the protests after he was spotted patrolling a protest without a name tag and gave evasive replies when questioned by a protestor.
The video with a collage showing RSS members is viral on Facebook with the caption, "Shocking Truth! #RSS & BJP goons in police uniform cause severe brutality in UP". The Facebook post is archived here.
Viral on facebook
The video has been shared by Twitter users with similar claims.
RSS POLICE WITHOUT NAME BATCH. Sare police waale ke name batch gir gaye..that's how RSS people also entered police team n rest all knows.@stoppression @imMAK02 @AdityaMenon22 pic.twitter.com/Js4tUq3OV2
— Hyderabad Against CAA/NRC (@HydAganstNrcCAA) December 21, 2019
The tweet is archived here.
The set of images were also sent to BOOM's helpline (7700906111) number for verification.
Fact check
An analysis of the facial features of the police officer and the RSS member clearly show several differences. We were able to ascertain that the police officer is an inspector rank officer in the Delhi police department while the RSS member is a BJP leader from Rajasthan.
WHO IS THE MAN IN THE POLICE UNIFORM?
BOOM was able to confirm from Chinmoy Biswal, Deputy Commissioner of Police, South Delhi, who identified the police officer as Vinod Narang, station house officer, Connaught Place police station. We further confirmed this designation from past media reports and Narang's face also bears similarities to pictures on his social media profile.
We then reached out to Narang who said that the viral video shows him patrolling during the protests at Mandi House. He explained that his name badge had been misplaced while rounding up protestors and the video was shot soon after. When asked if Narang had any political affiliations or had ever been a member of the RSS, he denied the same. "I don't have any political affiliation, let alone being a member of the RSS"
IMAGE OF RSS WORKER IS OF RAJASTHAN BJP MLA
The viral image shows three men standing in RSS uniforms. Om Birla, the current speaker of Lok Sabha can be seen along with the man circled as the RSS worker and misidentified as the police personnel from Delhi Police. BOOM ran a relevant keyword search on Birla's public posts and found the same man pictured with him in multiple photographs. We then looked up for RSS workers in Rajasthan and were directed to one Ashok Dogara, MLA from Bundi, Rajasthan, the same man, who can be seen in the photos.
Left: Ashok Dogra, Right: Om Birla (Courtesy: Ashok Dogra's Facebook page)