An image of a man being tortured inside a police station is doing rounds across social media platforms with the claim that he is Republic TV Chief Editor Arnab Goswami. In the picture that has now gone viral, a man can be seen hung upside down as police officers thrash him brutally.
Arnab Goswami was arrested on November 4, Wednesday, for allegedly abetting the suicide of a 53-year-old interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother, two years ago. The police had found a suicide note in which Anvay blamed the Republic TV chief for their suicide because he was not paid dues worth Rs 5.40 crores by Goswami and two others.
The case was closed earlier due to lack of evidence but has been reopened now.
The claim
Users on Twitter as well as on Facebook have been sharing the photo claiming that the Maharashtra Police is ill-treating Goswami. The claim spread like wildfire as Goswami had earlier alleged in the court that he was manhandled by the police officials who came to arrest him, which caused injuries to his hand, back and finger.
A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader named Gaurav Goel uploaded the photo on the micro-blogging website along with the caption, "Can't believe he is #ArnabGoswami. If it's real, Maharashtra Govt has asked for the doomsday. I am terribly perturbed."
The post has garnered more than 5,000 likes and over 3,000 retweets, so far.
Fact-check
A reverse image search shows that the picture in question has no connection with Goswami's arrest whatsoever. It is actually from a totally separate incident that transpired in Uttar Pradesh earlier this year when the Deoria Police ruthlessly thrashed a young man for allegedly stealing a mobile phone.
On further investigating the claim, International Business Times, India, came across a video shared by a journalist on January 10, 2020, which shows a cop hitting a young man with a boot and a belt as other cops pin him down. The viral picture is a screengrab from this video.
This is the @deoriapolice , viciously assaulting a young man accused of mobile theft by his neighbour , inside a police station. One cop tries to smash the man's face with his boot , the man is hit multiple times with a belt as other cops pin him down . Three cops suspended ... pic.twitter.com/hzDplXrDv0
— Alok Pandey (@alok_pandey) January 10, 2020
Furthermore, the episode was extensively covered by popular media houses and reports stated that the incident was from Madanpur police station in Deoria, Uttar Pradesh.
Therefore, it can be concluded that an old, unrelated image is being used to falsely claim that Arnab Goswami was brutally thrashed by the Maharashtra Police.
