Distressing CCTV footage capturing a man being mugged by two assailants who creep up on him from behind and restrain him in a choke hold is being shared as migrants robbing and killing a man for lack of money. The viral video is also being shared as Mumbai claiming the incident happened near Bandra's Mount Mary Church.
BOOM reached out to Delhi Police who confirmed that the accused are locals with a criminal record and have since been arrested. The police also confirmed that the victim is alive.
The video shows two men follow another into a narrow lane and suddenly attack him - while one of them holds him down in a neck grip, the other steals belongings from his pocket.
The video is being shared with a caption warning people from stepping out at night as "migrants/labourers/poor people are killing people for money".
The full caption reads, "Pl don't go out during nights as some labours / migrants / poor people are killing innocent people for Money / Jewellery.. as there is cash crunch in the market. This kind of incidents are bound to happen in near future very frequently....as there is no money rotation across country n daily labours have no cash in hand.. "
NOTE: The video is distressing in nature
BOOM also received the video claiming the incident happened near Mount Mary Church in Bandra.
FACT CHECK
A close look at the video showed that the CCTV footage was recorded on April 28, 2020, with the date visible on the left hand top corner. On the right bottom corner we noticed the words, 'Majnu ka Ti'.
A search for the keywords Majnu Ka Ti showed results for an area in Delhi- Majnu Ka Tila. We further looked for the keywords, 'मजनू का टीला एक शख्स का गला दबाकर' (Man stranged in Majnu Ka Tila) and found results of the same video uploaded local news channel's Facebook page and a Tweet by Navbharat Times, Delhi.
The Facebook page, Newsroom Post - uploaded the video on April 29, 2020 a day after the incident with the caption in Hindi describing the incident.
The tweet by Nav Bharat Times from April 30, 2020 described that a man was attacked, robbed and left in an unconscious state in the lane.
We then reached out to Civil Lines police under whose jurisdiction is Majnu Ka Tila area, who confirmed that the video is of an incident from April 28, 2020.
"The victim was attacked when he took a shortcut to reach home, a senior officer not wanting to be named said,
The two accused have been arrested and are history sheeters with a criminal record of petty theft and robberies." He further added, "the victim is alive and was left unconscious in the lane. He was not murdered as is being claimed in the viral posts."
The officer also dismissed the claim that the accused are migrant labourers and said, "The accused are locals in the area and have been arrested in the past too for petty crimes. They are not migrant labourers or any such as is being said."