Old incident of Hindu elderly man killing falsified as recent one

Fact-checking organization Rumor Scanner in an investigation found that an incident of killing of a Hindu man named Narendranath Munda in 2022 in a land dispute is being falsified as recent incident of communal attack.

In a report published on its website on Monday, the fact checking watchdog said recently, a photo of a person was circulated on the social media X (formerly Twitter) claiming that the photo is of a Hindu named Narendranath Munda and he was killed in an armed attack by extremist Muslims in Shyamnagar, Satkhira, Bangladesh.

The investigation of the Rumor Scanner Team revealed that the incident of the killing of Narendranath Munda is not a recent one, but an incident from 2022. Moreover, he was attacked not for communal reasons but in a land dispute. Narendranath Munda died on August 20, 2022 while undergoing treatment after being injured in the attack.

When the post circulated with the claim discussed in the investigation was examined, no reliable evidence was found in it.

When the image attached to the circulated post was searched, a post circulated on August 21, 2022 on a Facebook account named Engr Mrinal K Madhu was found. The image in question was also attached to the post.

The caption of the post shared by Mrinal reads, “Narendranath Munda died while undergoing treatment at Satkhira Medical College Hospital after being injured in a brutal attack by attackers to seize the property of the #Tribal_Munda_community in Shyamnagar, Satkhira. We strongly protest this incident and demand exemplary punishment for the attackers. We call for building social resistance against the attackers.”

Based on this, a relevant keyword search found a news report published on the Voice of America Bangla website on August 21, 2022 under the headline “Narendranath Munda injured in terrorist attack in Shyamnagar, Satkhira dies, 2 arrested.”

The report states, “On the morning of August 19 (2022), more than two hundred people from Bangshipur area led by Rashedul Islam and Ibadul Islam of Srifalakati village attacked the Munda community in Dhumghat to seize its land. The Munda houses were vandalized and looted. […] Shyamnagar Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Kazi Wahid Morshed said, “More than two hundred hired terrorists led by Ebadul Islam of Srifalkati village attacked on Friday to forcibly occupy eight bighas of land belonging to the Munda community in Dhumghat village.”

He also said, “The Mundas were beaten up and seriously injured for resisting the occupation. Bilasi Munda, Rina Munda, Sulta Munda and Narendra Munda were seriously injured in this. Later, the police rescued them and admitted them to the hospital. Narendra Munda died at Satkhira Medical College on Saturday (August 20, 2022) afternoon while undergoing treatment.”

A news report on the same subject was available on the mainstream media Prothom Alo at that time. The same information about the incident in question was also available from that report.

The report also revealed that a sit-in program was held on September 1, 2022, at the Shyamnagar Upazila Parishad premises in Shyamnagar Upazila of Satkhira demanding justice for the murder of Narendra Munda and the attack on the Munda community. The speakers at that program said that they (Mundas) are being attacked one after another just for the greed of property. The syndicate of the attackers must be broken.

That is, the attack was not carried out for communal reasons but for the greed of property. Moreover, the incident took place in 2022.

Therefore, the death of Narendranath Munda, who was killed on August 20, 2022 due to an attack over a land dispute, has been propagated with the claim that he was killed in a communal attack in the recent past; which is misleading.