The video with a polarising caption tweeted by Imam Tawhidi was also shared by actress Koena Mitra on Twitter.
New Delhi: A video of a naga sadhu being beaten up by a young man has gone viral on social media. The video is being shared with the message that a Muslim man was assaulting a Hindu sage.
Imam Tawhidi, an Iranian-born Australian cleric and scholar, who calls himself ‘Imam of Peace’ on Twitter, posted the video saying that Islamic extremists in India were beating up a poor Indian beggar. The Imam also wished for action against the man beating the beggar and tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his tweet.
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Sunday, his verified account tweeted:
https://twitter.com/Imamofpeace/status/1036116188474961921
The tweet received more than 2,500 retweets in four hours.
The Imam’s tweet was also quoted by actor Koena Mitra, saying that the man being beaten up was a naga sadhu and that it was a routine thing in India.
https://twitter.com/koenamitra/status/1036132225710940168
Her tweet had also received more than 500 retweets in three hours.
However, according to the information accessed by SM Hoaxslayer, neither is the ‘poor Indian beggar’ a naga sadhu, nor is the man beating him up a Muslim.
Surya Bhushan Negi, an inspector at the Patel Nagar police station in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, who is handling this case, told SM Hoaxslayer that the man dressed as a naga sadhu is an imposter, and is, in fact, a snake charmer.
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According to a local news report, the incident happened in Dehradun on 24 August.
“The imposter, a snake charmer, had asked for water from a house where he started teasing a girl. Owing to this, the brother of the girl, Shubham Chauhan, got furious and took him downstairs and started beating him with a rod. His friends made a suggestion to call the police, after which the snake charmer was arrested, and currently he is in jail,” said the inspector.
The police also said the imposter has six kids and was drunk at the time of the incident. Both Imam and Koena had deleted their tweets by Monday.
In collaboration with SM Hoaxslayer.