Viral video on RSS leader Rajesh’s death in Kerala is fake

A graphic video of a man, who was attacked with machetes in Brazil’s Pilão Arcado in 2014, is being circulated on social media and WhatsApp under the false premise of being a video of the attack on 34-year-old Rajesh, an RSS leader in the Kerala unit. 

While Rajesh was hacked to death by a four-member group in Sreekariyam  near Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday, 2017, the video, that was shared by Pradeep Marath’s twitter handle, was that of Josemar Ferreira de Souza, who was hacked with machetes for allegedly stealing goats. During the attack, Souza lost both his arms.

The false video had trolls tweeting in full fury. While one Indian (@mountains_life) posted the photo of Rajesh’s alleged gangster killer (obviously there is no proof of that yet), another accused the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Sitaram Yechury, of heading terrorist organisations, funding Maoists and committing murders in Kerala. Police are still investigating Rajesh’s murder and have arrested 10 people so far. 

With YouTube removing the video citing “violent and graphic content”, the account that began circulating the video has disappeared altogether as well.