Two videos have gone viral with the claim that people from the Muslim community are hoarding food supplies and wasting food amidst the lockdown imposed to tackle coronavirus. Video 1: Shot at night A 90-second video of a man who claims to be reporting at a slum near Gandhi Ashram has gone viral. In this video, the man says that since past seven or eight days he has been visiting these slums to give food. However, he claims that some people have been hoarding the relief food even when they have more than enough supplies of their own. Later in the video, he enters a house and shows various food items – a portion of chicken, a meagre quantity of flour and nine food packets. The video also shows stacks of pooris lying on a table. Just as the pooris are shows we can hear goats bleating in the background. While the man walks out, we see a lady sitting on the ground. She said, “We took them out because of the dal.” The man wraps up the video by requesting people of Meerut not to distribute food at slums near Gandhi Ashram. The readers should note that police officers can be seen in the viral video and the fact that the man in the video made no communal comments Alt News has received several requests to fact-check this on WhatsApp (+91 76000 11160) and on our official Android application with the claim that “people of Muslim communities are deliberately hiding food.” Facebook page Najafgarh Confession shared the viral video sans communal subtext. खाना बाँटने से पहले ये देख लो! हम तो सोचते है भूखे होंगे ये तो अच्छा चिकन खा रहे है! सब एक जैसे नहीं है लेकिन अब ज्यादा लोग सामान इकठ्ठा कर रहे! वीडियो बने वाले भाई को दिल से धन्यवाद! Posted by Najafgarh Confessions on Friday, April 10, 2020 Video 2: Shot in daylight Several Facebook users have posted a different one-minute video with the claim that Muslims are hoarding food so that poor Hindus are starved. This video shows the man from video 1 in an orange kurta. Just like the first video he appears to be reporting. According to him, food is being wasted at a leprosy ashram. The video shows a room where pooris are lying on the floor. It is pertinent to note only the man who appears to be reporting can be seen in the video. The video abruptly ends with the frame of stacks of jute bags. Just like video 1, no communal comments were made by the man in the video. On April 12, Kumar Ajit posted the viral video and wrote in Hindi, “#Caution #Food_Jihad has started, loot the food and let it go bad, don’t let the food reach to any Hindu poor, so that the government looks bad and poor Hindus die (translated from #सावधान #खाना_ज़िहाद शुरू हो चुका है, खाना लूटो और उसे खराब कर दो, किसी हिन्दू गरीब को खाना ना पहुँचने दो, ताकि सरकार बदनाम हो और गरीब हिन्दू भूखा मरे ). This video has been viewed over 66,000 times and shared by more than 2,700 users. (archive link) । #सावधान ।। #खाना_ज़िहाद शुरू हो चुका है, खाना लूटो और उसे खराब कर दो, किसी हिन्दू गरीब को खाना ना पहुँचने दो, ताकि सरकार बदनाम हो और गरीब हिन्दू भूखा मरे । Posted by Kumar Ajit on Saturday, April 11, 2020 A Facebook user even felt the need to mention ‘muslanmanoo’ and ‘jihadiyon’ in brackets just in case the communal subtext wasn’t clear. Alt News found a Facebook post by Mukesh Garg which includes two videos, video 1 and a longer version of video 2, posted on April 10. It is pertinent to note the man seen the viral videos cannot be seen in the second video uploaded by Garg. He wrote, “All the institutions of the country must watch both these videos. Look how slum dwellers and disrespecting the god of food (translated from देश की सभी संस्थाओं को यह दोनो वीडियो जरूर देखनी चाहिये।यह झुगी झोपड़ी वाले अन्न देवता का कैसे अनादर कर रहे है।). This post is massively viral, it has been shared over 63,000 times. One of the videos has over 11 lakh views (Video 1) while the other has over three lakh views. (archive link) At the very first second in video 1, a car’s number plate is visible – UP 15 CN 2507. Using this as a clue, Alt News looked up its registration details and found that it registered at Meerut RTO to one Ankur Sharma. We then performed a keyword search on YouTube and found a report published by Jan TV on April 10. This video shows footage from both the viral videos. Jan TV aired a few seconds of both viral videos on mute and presented a similar narrative that poor marginalised people from leprosy ashram and slums near Gandhi Ashram are hoarding food supplies. The report also added that these people sell excess food. The report included a statement from district magistrate Ajay Kumar Tiwari. He discouraged hoarding and said that authorities will look into the claims made in the viral video. Tiwari added that authorities will visit the slums where food is being wasted and explain to them that there is no food shortage.