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| - Fact Check: No 'Rail Jihad', no vandalism. Video of Vande Bharat repair work VIRAL with false claims
India Today Fact Check found that the man is a contract worker with Indian Railways in Ahmedabad. He was breaking the Vande Bharat's window glass to replace it.
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India Today Fact Check
This man is a contract worker with Indian Railways in Ahmedabad. He is breaking the Vande Bharat’s window glass to replace it. He is also not Muslim.
Anyone even remotely active on social media must have seen the video of a man smashing a Vande Bharat Express window with a hammer. The video has caused massive outrage among social media users, with some putting a communal spin on this alleged act of vandalism, claiming that the man was Muslim.
A Facebook user shared the viral video and wrote, “India's path to development and growth is obstructed by the actions of certain individuals, such as the person who damaged the Vande Bharat express train with a hammer, highlighting the need for a change in behavior.” Many termed the video “Train Jihad”. A few such posts can be seen here, here.
India Today Fact Check found that this was not vandalism. The man is a contract worker with Indian Railways in Ahmedabad, who was breaking the train’s window to replace it. He is also not Muslim.
Our Probe
Multiple responses to the viral posts pointed out how the man was breaking the glass to replace it. A crack at the bottom of the glass of the window is visible.
“Trains of India”, an X user shared another video showing how windows are replaced in Vande Bharat trains. We also found various YouTube videos of window replacements in Vande Bharat trains. All of them involved breaking the glass with a hammer.
Who is the man in the viral video?
Reverse-searching the keyframes of the viral video led us to the Instagram account @singare_mahi_manish ( https://ghostarchive.org/archive/NcUT3 ) which contained videos of a man whose appearance and shirt matched the man in the viral video. We also saw various videos featuring Vande Bharat trains on this account. This pointed to the Instagram account being related to the viral video.
In several Reels shared by this account, we noticed Gujarati signages and posters, indicating the user may be from Gujarat. We reached out to the Instagram user Manish and others he follows for more information. One such person we contacted confirmed to India Today Fact Check that Manish is an employee of a private maintenance company that works with Indian Railways.
They said that Manish, who hails from Bihar’s Ara, lives in Ahmedabad, where he repairs Vande Bharat train windows. Even though the face of the man in the viral video was not visible, the friend said that they could identify Manish.
Railway’s response
When we first contacted Railway officials, they denied having any information about the viral video. After gathering all the information about Manish, we contacted the Railway officials again. A senior railway official then confirmed to us that the video was from the Indian Railways’ Integrated Coaching Depot in Kankariya, Ahmedabad. He also told us that the video was recorded 5-6 days ago, during an inspection of the Ahmedabad-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express.
The Railway official also corroborated the fact that the window was being smashed only to be replaced. They also confirmed that the man seen in the video was Manish Kumar Gupta, who works with a contract-based company with Indian Railways.
What did Manish say
When India Today Fact Check finally managed to contact Manish Gupta, he confirmed that the man in the viral was him. However, he also said that his seniors asked him to not say anything in this matter. In fact, Manish had originally shared the video himself on his Instagram account. He later deleted it when it went viral.
It is thus clear that the video shows neither vandalism nor the conspiracy theory called “Rail Jihad”.
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You can also send us an email at factcheck@intoday.com
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