A CCTV video showing two men robbing a couple of their jewellery after drugging them with smoke is viral with the communal claim that Muslims have come up with a new way of robbing people.
BOOM found that a Telangana-based channel made the scripted video and it does not show an actual robbery being captured on CCTV camera.
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The video shows a man standing in front of a house with the subtitles stating that he offers to clean the gold jewellery of the couple living in the house. After the woman goes to get the jewellery, the man can be seen speaking to someone on the phone. After some time, a man dressed in a religious attire approach the house and blesses them with smoke. A few seconds later, the couple becomes unconscious and fall to the floor. The other man then robs the couple off all their jewellery and flees.
An archive of the tweet can be accessed here.
An archive of the tweet can be accessed here.
The video is being shared with Islamophobic captions like: "New tactic by peacefuls. If such cap wearers come to your lane, do not let them enter" (Hindi caption: शांतिदूतो का नया कारनामा…आपकी गली में ऐसे टोपी वाले फ़क़ीर घूमते है तो …उसकी गली में घुसने न दे…)
शांतिदूत or peacefuls, is a deregatory term used by Hindu right wing supporters to refer to Muslims.
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Some also shared the video without a communal claim but as a real incident captured on CCTV.
An archive of the tweet can be accessed here.
An archive of the tweet can be accessed here.
An archive of the video can be accessed here.
An archive of the video can be accessed here.
The same message was sent to BOOM's helpline number for verification.
Fact Check
The date in the viral CCTV footage was 10-11-2021. Taking this as a cue, we searched for the video on Facebook with keywords "gold jewellery thief" and added the filter to show videos uploaded in the last week.
We found that a Facebook channel called "Rock on media" first uploaded the video on November 10.
The caption of the video states that the video is scripted and is meant only for educational purposes. "Thank you for watching! Please be aware that this page features scripted dramas and parodies as well. These short films are for entertainment & educational purposes only!"
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At the end of the video, there is a disclaimer which reads, "This reel life video footage is published only for the purpose of educating the public by making them understand how the real world situations will be. During this video making we have taken real incidents and picturized to educate public. Characters in this video are entertainment and education purpose only. "We Can Learn from the experience of others""
We contacted the admin of Facebook page who told us that all the videos they make are for "entertainment and educational purposes only".
BOOM also called the number listed on the Facebook page but is yet to receive a response.
BOOM had earlier debunked a similar educational video made by Rock on media which was viral with the false claim that a Muslim man laced a woman's drink with a drug only for an alert staffer to foil the man's plan.
