Old video from Mexico shared as Odisha train accident SM Sheriff hiding in a Madrasa in WB.
Claim
#railway_accident_or_attack Braking news Balasore train accident’s main accused Md. Sharif station master was hiding in Madrasa in West Bengal CBI arrested CBI, ED, local police will interrogate all in turn
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Explanation
A video of a person thrashed brutally with a paddle while he is stripped naked and handcuffed is shared to claim that he is Mohammed Sheriff, station master behind the Balasore train accident and that he was hiding in a Madarasa in West Bengal and got arrested later. This claim is viral. Some of the social media users share this claim along with the video and some without the video. The posts are shared with a hashtag questioning if it was a railway accident or attack.
https://twitter.com/rajuseervi2015/status/1671728275545268224?s=12&t=kIszbQH_arRSG8kPbuGeZw
The posts in Hindi read as “#रेल्वे_हादसा_या_हमला Braking news बालासोर ट्रेन हादसे का मुख्य आरोपी मौ० शरीफस्टेशन मास्टर पश्चिम बंगाल में मदरसे में छिपा था चढ़ा CBI के हत्थे CBI,ED,स्थानीय पुलिस सभी बारी बारी से पुछताछ करेगी”. Some of the posts with such a claim can be seen here, here and here.
What is the truth?
When reverse searching the keyframes of the viral video we found that the video is old and unrelated to the Odisha train tragedy.
The video is found posted on websites including Reddit, huzlers and Krudplug mentioning that a thief was beaten with a paddle in Mexico for stealing from a cartel. The websites posted the video in 2021 and 2022 whereas the Odisha train accident happened in 2023. Though we could not ascertain the date of the incident we could verify that the video is not of Mohammed Sheriff as claimed.
Moreover, the same claim that the station master Mohammed Sheriff was absconding after the tragedy was circulated earlier. Youturn fact-checked and published an article on the same. The same photo is being used in some of the posts now.
The person in this photo is not Mohammed Sheriff but an old photo of the Borra Ghualu station master. In addition to it, no one named Mohammed Sheriff is listed as Bahanaga station master, instead SB Mohanty is in place and he is not absconding too. And no one is missing, the entire staff is present and are involved in the inquiry, clarified CPRO/SER.
It is to be clarified none of the staff involved in the ongoing query are missing or absconding.
-CPRO/SER pic.twitter.com/il4GRn2WrA— Spokesperson Railways (@SpokespersonIR) June 20, 2023
The above video was tweeted as a clarification by Spokesperson Railways when it was claimed that the Signal Engineer Amir Khan related to Odisha train accident is absconding.
Read More: Signal Engineer Amir Khan is not absconding or missing. Many news outlets reported incorrectly.
And that is not the first time a false claim was made against Muslims to portray the community as the reason behind the train tragedy. The ISKCON temple near the accident site was claimed as a Mosque earlier.
Read More: ISKCON temple near the Odisha train accident site shared as Mosque to create communal disharmony.
Conclusion
It is found that an old video from Mexico is shared to falsely claim that station master Mohammed Sheriff who was hiding in a Madrasa in West Bengal was arrested.
