An old video of attack on BJP leader in Tamil Nadu shared as recent

This viral video from 2023 shows Rajesh Biju being attacked by fellow party members over a personal dispute.

General elections will be held in India from 19 April 2024 to 1 June 2024 to elect the 543 members of the 18th Lok Sabha. Social media is geared up with so many images and videos related to elections. Against this backdrop, a video, which appears to be from a CCTV camera, has gone viral on social media. The video shows a man is beaten up by two others on the street. The users who share the media claim that the incident is recent from Tamil Nadu and the man assaulted is BJP IT and social media cell district secretary Rajesh Biju.

The caption states, “Gruesome attack on BJP IT & Social Media Cell District Secretary* Shri. Rajesh Biju today evening in front of BJP functionary’s house… Rajesh is undergoing treatment in Sri Chakra Hospital, Nanganallur, Chennai East”.

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Fact Check-

We started our investigation by analysing the video carefully and then we noticed that the top right corner of the footage shows a time stamp of 31 July 2023, which indicates that the video is from last year. Upon further search, we found a tweet by Sun News Tamil from 1August, 2023, that contained the same video. A rough translation of the caption in Tamil can be read as, “A case has been filed against Chennai East District BJP General Secretary S.S. Subbiah who attacked his own party member”

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Further, we came across a tweet made by the Greater Chennai police also confirming that the video is old and it shows a personal dispute. The post states, “The video pertains to a fight that occurred due to personal dispute between two factions of a political party @ Nanganallur and which happened on 31.07.2023 NOT yesterday. In this regard, a case was registered in the jurisdictional police station and proper legal action was taken”.

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According to an ETV Bharat Tamil  report published on 1August 2023,  Chennai East District BJP General Secretary S. Subaiah, who runs a party office and hotel in Nanganallur, was shocked to see a viral video of him drinking alcohol. Subaiah, along with BJP Zonal President Jawahar Armstrong and Subbiah’s sister’s son Mutharasan, verbally abused IT Division Secretary Rajesh at his residence, suspecting him to be the source behind the leak. The encounter soon escalated to physical assault against Rajesh. Later, Rajesh filed a complaint at the Palavanthangal police station.

So it is clear that the viral video of the BJP IT cell Rajesh Biju being attacked is not recent, it is from last year. The incident took place in the Nanganallur area of Chennai when a dispute broke out between Rajesh and other functionaries of the party. 

Conclusion-

Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video to be Misleading. This viral video from 2023 shows Rajesh Biju being attacked by fellow party members over a personal dispute.