A video is being widely shared on social media in which a speeding truck is seen mowing down a crowd who are in the middle of celebrating a public event. The video is shared with a caption claiming that it shows a Muslim man named Mohammad Feroz attacking a Ganesh procession with his truck.
A social media user shared the seven-second-long video with a caption that reads, “The name of the truck driver is Mohammad Feroz. It’s an Islamic Terrorist Attack in Karnataka, India.”
South Check found that the claim is false. There is no communal angle to the incident.
We searched with relevant keywords and found that the incident was reported by ETV Bharat on September 12. The news report shared screenshots of a video that captured the incident.
According to the report, a truck lost control and crashed into a Ganesh Chaturthi immersion procession in Mosale Hosahalli village, Hassan district, Karnataka. At least 9 people were killed and 22 others injured, some critically. The accident happened around 8:45 pm on the final day of the festival.
The same video of the incident was also shared by the website.
In the video, we can see that a truck is ramming the procession. We compared the visuals of the viral truck with the visuals in the video shared by ETV Bharat.
In the video shared by ETV Bharat, at around 10 seconds, we can see the truck, which has AVG Logistics written on it. In the viral video, at the seventh second, we can see AVG logistics written on the truck.
The incident was reported by NDTV on September 12. The report suggested that the truck was coming from Arakalagudu, lost control and crashed into the devotees.
A report published by The Indian Express quoted an eyewitness: “One side of the road had been blocked for traffic due to the Ganesh processions. Traffic was allowed only on one side of the road. We were standing on the side of the road where traffic was moving, and we saw the truck try to avoid hitting a two-wheeler coming and veering over the divider into the Ganesh procession.”
What is the identity of the driver?
None of the reports stated that the person who drove the truck was a Muslim man.
The News Minute had also reported that the name of the truck driver was Bhuvan, and he lost control, hit a divider and ploughed into the crowd.
An X user, who claims to be a journalist, shared a video of Hassan SP, Mohammad Sujeetha, where the identity of the driver was mentioned: “Hassan Police have registered an #FIR against the driver of the truck that rammed into the #GaneshVisarjan procession in #Hassan yesterday. The driver has been identified as Bhuvanesh, a resident of Holenarsipura. In the tragic accident, 9 people lost their lives.”
