Video of a Youth Setting Ablaze a Lottery Shop in Kerala Falsely Shared as an Incident in Tamil Nadu…

Recently, miscreants have circulated many false videos as acts of violence perpetrated on North Indian migrant workers in Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu Police has called these videos a part of the false propaganda spreading among the migrant workers in the state. Police have dismissed rumors of attack on North Indian migrant workers in Tamil Nadu and created a special helpline for migrant workers.

Police and Fact-Checkers have debunked several such videos over the past few days. You can read some of our fact-checks debunking some of these false videos below:

• Is this a video of locals from Tamil Nadu attacking the Bihari people? Know the truth…
• Unrelated video from Punjab shared as Bihari workers attacked in Tamil Nadu…
• Unrelated video of violence from Coimbatore shared as Bihari Migrant Workers Attacked in TN…
• Video of Murder in Hyderabad Viral as Attack on Hindi People in Tamil Nadu

Despite, clarification and warning from the police, many videos are still being circulated to support these claims on social media platforms. A video is circulating on social media, alleged to be from Tamil Nadu. The video shows a young man setting a lottery shop on fire and walking away. 

However, this video too proved to be not from Tamil Nadu and neither associated with violence against North Indian migrant workers. Let us fact-check this video and dive into the true details of the incident.

Video on Social Media

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The video above shows a man walking into a lottery shop, then setting lottery tickets on fire after pouring an inflammable liquid over it. After setting the shop on fire, the man turns around and walks off calm and unfazed. 

Text etched over the video in Hindi reads, “Tamil Nadu me kiya ho raha hai (What’s happening in Tamil Nadu?)”. However, is this video really from Tamil Nadu? The timing of posting the video can also lead users to believe this has something to do with the reports of migrant workers being targeted in Tamil Nadu. Hence, let us check the truth of this video.

Fact Check

If we observe the video closely, we can see the name of the lottery shop written on the counter. The name is written in Malayalam and not Tamil.

The word Lotteries is written in Malayalam as ലോട്ടറീസ് on the counter of the shop. Taking this cue, we searched for related news online. We found the following news report on the incident by Manorama News.

As per the news report, the man seen in the video set ablaze a lottery shop called Meenakshi lotteries in Thrippunithura, Kerala on Friday evening. The report says the man had declared his intentions via Facebook Live before committing the act. He also said that he is burning this lottery store as a protest against ‘Crony Capitalism’.

Mathrubhumi reported, 1.5 lacs worth of assets were destroyed in the fire. Kerala Police later arrested the culprit, whose name is Rajesh. Police is investigating whether he has any mental issues. Earlier, Rajesh had come Live on Facebook and announced that he is going to burn a lottery shop belonging to Meenakshi agencies. He also claimed that this is his protest against ‘Crony Capitalism’ and ‘fake’ Comrades. He invoked the name of Kerala’s first chief minister and great Communist leader E.M.S Namboodiripad and declared his actions will bring in ‘Real Communism’. 

Conclusion

From the investigation, it is clear that the video in question is actually from Kerala. Hence, the video is being shared falsely in context to Tamil Nadu at a time when many false videos of violence against migrant workers being attacked in the state are circulating. 

If you come across any such video, then before sharing do send it to us for verification on our WhatsApp number 9049053770.