Accidental fire in musical instrument shop in Rangpur circulated as extremist communal attack
Recently, a claim has been circulated on social media that radical Islamists have burnt to ashes the musical instrument shop of a Hindu businessman named Taal Tarang in Rangpur due to religious reasons.
See the post circulated on Facebook with this claim here (Archive).
See the post circulated on X with this claim here (Archive).
Fact Check
The Rumor Scanner team’s investigation reveals that the claim that radical Islamists set fire to the musical instrument shop of a Hindu businessman named Taal Tarang in Rangpur due to religious reasons is not correct. In reality, the fire was accidental and originated from a short circuit; there is no element of communal attack in it.
Investigating this matter, a representative of Rumor Scanner visited the scene and collected detailed information. It is known that recently, a fire incident occurred in three shops adjacent to the overbridge at Shathibari Bazar in Mithapukur Upazila of Rangpur. Three shops were damaged in this fire; among them, the owners of two shops are Muslim, and the owner of the damaged musical instrument shop named ‘New Taal Tarang Bhuban’ is Hindu.
The owner of the New Taal Tarang shop, Balaram Moni Das, stated, “Three shops were damaged in the fire. The owners of two are Muslim, and the other is ours. I finished work and closed the shop around 12 AM to go home. I heard about the fire around Fajr time; upon arriving at the shop during the final stages of extinguishing the fire, I saw this condition.” He expressed his belief that the fire started from a short circuit.
When asked about communal reasons, Balaram Moni Das said, “No, there is nothing like that. I have been here since ’91. The Muslims here love me a lot. I visit the homes of people around here whenever I want; no one ever tells me I can’t come. There is nothing like that. Everyone loves me a lot.”
When the owner of the damaged ‘Mayer Doa’ hotel was asked about the cause, he said, “Actually, I was not there at that time. Fire service personnel came and said the fire started from a short circuit.” When asked if there was any communal reason behind this incident, he said, “No, there is nothing like that. And that Dada’s [Hindu owner’s] shop alone didn’t catch fire, ours did too. There is nothing like that.”
When another damaged shopkeeper, Faruk Hossain Babu, was asked about the cause, he said, “This started from a short circuit. Fire service personnel came and extinguished the fire.”
Additionally, speaking with a local individual, he also stated that the incident was not communal. Furthermore, searching with relevant keywords yielded no evidence from reliable sources to support the claim that the discussed incident was communal. From this, it is confirmed that there is no communal reason behind the fire incident.
It is worth noting that in some posts circulated with the discussed claim, a picture of a musical instrument shop has also been attached and circulated. However, observing the picture reveals abnormalities in the shop’s items and human gestures, and it was confirmed from multiple AI content detection platforms that the picture was created using AI.
Therefore, an accidental fire in a musical instrument shop in Rangpur has been circulated as an extremist communal attack; which is false.
Sources
- Statement of Shopkeepers
- Rumor Scanner’s analysis
- AI Analysis