Claim
An old image showing an injured Jain monk is viral online as recent with the false claim that he was assaulted by a group of Muslim men in Karnataka who chanted slogans of 'Congress Zindabad'. The image of the monk was shared with the text, "Muslims beat up Jain monk in Karnataka, raised slogans of Congress Zindabad, now Congress has come in its true form, Hindus who voted for Congress, Congress will continue to give you this kind of love. Send this photo so much that it reaches Narendra Modi ji and Yogi ji by tomorrow. Today I got a chance to do some charitable work. You must be a Muslim if you don't share this video."
(Original text in Hindi: "कर्नाटक में जैन मुनि को मुसलमानों ने मारा कहा कांग्रेस जिन्दाबाद के लगाये नारे अब कांग्रेस अपने असली रूप में आ गई कांग्रेस को वोट देने वाले हिन्दुओं इसी तरह का प्यार तुम्हें कांग्रेस देती रहेगी । इस फोटो को ईतना भेजो की कल तक नरेंद्र मोदी जी और योगी जी के पास पहुंच जाए। आज मौका मिला है कुछ पुण्ये का काम करने का। कोई मुसलमान ही होगा जो इस वीडियो को शेयर नहीं करेगा आप सभी को भगवान की कसम ।")
Fact
BOOM found that the claims are false and the monk's injury does not involve any communal angle. We had previously debunked this photo in May 2023 and March 2018 when it was circulating with a similar claim. Mahesh Hegde, founder of fake news portal Postcard, had first shared the photo in 2018 with the false claim. We had, at that time, reached out to the police who informed that the monk, Shri Upadhyaya Mayank Sagarji Maharaj, was injured by a drunk biker who crashed into the monk and his followers. Shri Upadhyaya Sagarji Maharaj was returning after attending the Shravanabelagola festival.