A viral video of a Muslim man arguing with a technician over stealing electricity is doing the rounds on social media. The man claims that he would rather ‘kill or be killed’ than surrender to the authorities for installing a meter. He says authorities cannot do anything against him for stealing power.
A Facebook user shared the 33-second video with a caption: बिजली चोरी करूंगा !! नहींं मानूंगा!! … मरूंगा या मारूंगा।।। * ये तालिबान तो देश के भीतर ही पैदा हो रहा है (English translation: I will steal electricity !!I will not agree !! … I will die or I will kill… This Taliban is being born within the country itself.)
You can find the post here.
Many other social media users are claiming the same notion that ‘Taliban is being born within our country itself’.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the viral claim, and found the video to be misleading.
We started our investigation by running a Reverse Image Search of the video keyframes. It led us to a tweet posted on July 27, 2020, by K-Electric Ltd. (@KelectricPk), the largest power utility company in Pakistan. The viral video matches exactly the video tweeted by K-Electric, indicating that the video is from Pakistan.
The caption states: “Watch this man caught red-handed! #ChoriAurSeenaZori”.
Searching about the incident through Google keywords, we found a July 28, 2020, tweet by a Pakistani digital media platform- Siyasat.
The tweet reads: مروں گا یا ماروں گا لیکن کنڈا نہیں اتارنے دوں گا۔ کراچی کا ایک شخص دیدہ دلیری سے بجلی چوری کا اعتراف کرتے ہوئے بدمعاشی کا مظاہرہ کرنے لگا https://bit.ly/2DhLaC8 #kelectric #karachi (English translation: I will die or kill, but I will not let go of Kanda. A man from Karachi boldly confessed to stealing electricity and started showing mischief https://bit.ly/2DhLaC8 #kelectric #karachi)
The link mentioned in the tweet led us to a Dailymotion video posted by ARY News.
The video clarifies that the name of the man is Ataur Rehman and he is a resident of Karachi. The entire incident happened when he was caught red-handed by the officials from the electrical department for stealing power. Not only did he admit to his crime but also threatened to either ‘kill or be killed’ if the department dared install a meter at his residence.
A similar news report can be viewed on ARY News’ official Facebook handle as well.
Therefore, we can conclusively say that the viral video of the Muslim man threatening a technician is from Karachi in Pakistan, and not India. It is being shared in India with misleading communal claims.
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