On October 14, a private sleeper bus travelling from Jaisalmer to Jodhpur caught fire near Thaiyat village, which is around 10 km from Jaisalmer. A suspected AC short-circuit and a blocked single exit door trapped passengers, resulting in at least 20 deaths and over 15 injuries.
In the above context, a social media post has gone viral in which a newspaper clip is being shared, suggesting a communal angle to the incident.
The post also has text embedded, which said, “In the Jaisalmer bus accident, Turab Ali, the owner of the bus, belonging to Jain travels, and bus driver Shaukat were arrested.”
The social media post that shared the news clipping stated that the incident was a plot by Muslims to kill Hindus. A social media user shared the clipping and wrote, “The bus that caught fire in Jaisalmer belonged to a bus company named Jain Travels. The name of the bus owner is Turab Ali alias Barkat Khan and the name of the driver is Shaukat Ali. You people are rioting in the name of I Love.... and driving buses in the name of Jain Travels? And after that, you don’t keep any safety measures in the bus, block the emergency door by placing a seat there, and burn 20 Hindus alive?” (Translated from Hindi)
SouthCheck found that the claim is false. There is no communal angle involved in the incident.
On searching with relevant keywords, we found a press release from Jaisalmer Police on their official X account on October 16.
According to the press release, the AC sleeper bus involved in the tragedy belonged to KK Travels, not Jain Travels as claimed in the viral post. However, the owner’s name was confirmed to be Turab Ali, and the driver was Shaukat Khan.
Newspaper clipping edited
We also checked for the newspaper where the incident was reported and found that the line, suggesting that the bus driver and the owner of the company were arrested, was edited and was not present in the original newspaper.
Moreover, the report also mentioned the names of the victims, many of whom were Muslims.
According to a News 18 report published on October 19, multiple safety standards were violated during the bus’s construction. After the incident, the Transport Department seized 66 buses built by Jainam Coach Crafts for further inspection.
According to a report by The Indian Express, published on August 16, the names of some victims stated that Muslims were killed in the incident too. The press release further stated that an investigation was ongoing regarding the role of Manish Jain, the owner of the company, responsible for the bus.
According to a report published by Dainik Bhaskar, in the aftermath of the October 14 bus fire near Thaiyat village in Rajasthan that killed 21 people, police arrested Manish Jain, the owner of the company that modified the bus body. Investigators allege the bus’s AC conversion and single-exit layout contributed to the tragedy.
We also tried reaching out to the Jaisalmer police for more information, and the content will be updated after receiving the updates.
Hence, we can ascertain that the viral claim is false.
