Fact Check: Viral video claiming that YCP men vandalised houses of people grilling an MLA in Gurajala constituency is misleading

door-to-door in their constituencies and educate the public about various welfare schemes being implemented by the government and ensure that everyone is benefited by them.

As a part of this programme, MLA Kasu Mahesh Reddy visited Gurajala constituency on February 6, 2023. During his tour, a few women questioned the legislator about the damaged roads in the constituency and later, the MLA left the place.

A few news articles stated that goons pelted stones on the women’s houses later that night. Meanwhile, a video is in circulation on social media with the claim that it shows some goons vandalizing the houses of the people who questioned the YCP leader.

The video shows two people digging up a building with an intention to destroy it, which has gone viral with a claim in Telugu: “గురజాల నియోజకవర్గం దాచేపల్లిలో గడప గడపకు వైసీపీ కార్యక్రమంలో భాగంగా MLA కాసు మహేశ్వర రెడ్డి ని రోడ్లు బాగా లేవు అని ప్రశ్నించిన వారి ఇంటి మీద దాడి చేసిన వైసీపీ కార్యకర్తలు, దాడికి గురైన కుటుంభ వైసీపి పార్టీ వారే. పోలీసులు ఇంతవరకు ఎవరి మీదా కేసు పెట్టలేదు..ఎవరిని అరష్ట్ చేయలేదు.”

When translated, it claims that “as part of the YCP’s Gadapa Gadapaku in Gurajala constituency, the YCP activists attacked the house of people who questioned MLA Kasu Maheswara Reddy about the condition of the roads in the constituency. The house which was attacked belonged to a YCP activist. Police did not register a case in this connection so far… nor was anyone arrested.”

Fact check:

The claim is false. The video shows an incident in Tirupati and is not related to Gurajala constituency.

When we performed Google reverse image search on the key frames extracted from the video, we found a few news reports published on February 6, 2023.

According to the news report published in India Today, an engineering student allegedly died by suicide in his hostel room in Tirupati district, Andhra Pradesh. After this, his relatives vandalized the college property blaming the authorities of the educational institution for the death.

The report published the video of men vandalizing the college building, which is same as the viral video.

Another report which also shared the screengrab from the video states that a 20-year-old engineering student died by suicide in the college hostel. Within hours of this incident, the hostel warden also died allegedly due to shock. The student’s relatives damaged the property and broke the window panes in the college building.

The claim was also debunked by the Twitter handle of AP Gov Fact check. The tweet states that #FactCheck The video is from Gudur, Tirupati, where a 20-year-old student of a private engineering college committed suicide. However, the parents alleged that their son died due to pressure from the management and vandalized the college properties.

Here is another fact check debunking the claim.

Hence, the claim that the video shows goons destroying the houses of people who questioned MLA Maheswara Reddy in Gurajala Constituency is false. The video is from Gudur, Tirupati.