Fact Check: This video DOES NOT show how violence broke out in Gurugram, it’s from Telangana

By Riddhish Dutta: In the midst of communal violence in Haryana that reportedly began in the Nuh district, social media has been filled with various photos and videos of arson and vandalism and violence. One such video shows a man pelting stones. Men holding Bharatiya Janata Party and Indian flags could be seen around. Police officers could also be seen in the surrounding.

Those sharing this video claimed that it showed how the violence started in Gurugram. "A video coming out from the #Gurugram violence about how to start a violence. These morons should be punished very hard as they are playing with the emotions of the peoples and leads to a clash between two factions," read one such tweet. The archived version of a similar post can be seen here.

India Today found that the video is nearly a year old and unrelated to Gurugram violence. It is from Telangana.

Our Probe

Reverse-searching keyframes from the viral video led us to a higher-resolution version of the same clip shared on August 24, 2022.

While the tweet’s text in Tamil did not carry any other details about the incident, it did make it clear that it was unrelated to the recent violence in Haryana. In this video, we observed a green road sign behind a bus, indicating that Suryapeta, a city in Telangana, was 58 kilometres away. Around the video's six-second mark, we also spotted signage that appeared to have Telegu letters, further indicating the video was likely from Telangana.

We also compared the police badge seen on the arm of an official with the official logo of the Telangana police and found that they matched.

We also found that Telangana State Mineral Development Corporation charirmanManne Krishank, who is also a Bharat Rastra Samithi (BRS) leader, shared this video on August 24, 2022, and wrote, "What sort of Padayatra is this where BJP workers are pelting stones on the directions of BJP State President BS Kumar?"

BS Kumar, or Bandi Sanjay Kumar, is the present BJP president in the state.

When we searched keywords about scuffle during BS Kumar's padayatra in August last year and found several reports from The News Minute, the Times of India, and the Economic Times that mentioned how a clash broke out between cadres of the BRS (formerly known as TRS) and the BJP on August 15, 2022, in Devaruppula in the Jangaon district of Telangana. Workers from both sides were injured.

While we could not pinpoint the location or the date of the occurrence, it is distinctly clear that the video is nearly a year old and has nothing to do with the Gurugram violence.