Claim of MP Monirul Haque Chowdhury's arrest with a woman is fake

A video showing an elderly man in a white cap and panjabi standing with his hand on a woman’s shoulder recently spread on Facebook with the claim that BNP-backed MP of Cumilla Sadar, Monirul Haque Chowdhury, was detained with a woman. However, Dismislab’s fact-check found the claim to be false. The woman standing beside Monirul Haque Chowdhury in the video was the wife of customs official Bullet Bairagi, who died at the hands of muggers in Cumilla in April this year. The video does not show any detention. 

The video was posted from a Facebook profile on July 22 with the caption, “BNP MP from Cumilla Sadar, Monirul Haque Chowdhury, detained with a woman.” The 34-second video shows MP Monirul Haque Chowdhury standing beside a woman. Several people also appear in the background. A song has been added to the video. 

Until the publication of this report, the video had received more than 39,000 views and over 600 shares. More than 2,400 users reacted to the video.

Several other Facebook pages and personal profiles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) also posted the video with the same claim.

To verify the claim, Dismislab conducted a reverse image search using several key frames from the video. The search found a video report published on the verified Facebook page of News24 on May 10 this year. The report carried the headline, “MP Monirul Haque Chowdhury stands beside the wife of revenue official Bairagi in Cumilla.” The 42-second report contains footage that exactly matches the viral video.

Further verification through relevant keyword searches found reports on the incident published by several news outlets (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).

It is worth noting that customs official Bullet Bairagi (35) fell victim to muggers while returning to his home in Cumilla on the night of April 24 after completing training in Chattogram. On the morning of April 25, authorities recovered his dead body beside the Irish Hill Hotel in the Kotbari area of Cumilla on the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway.

According to a report by Somoy News, MP Monirul Haque Chowdhury visited the rented apartment of the slain official in the Panpotti area of Cumilla city on the afternoon of May 8 and expressed deep condolences to the family members. During the visit, he announced that he would take responsibility for supporting Bullet Bairagi’s family and assured them of a permanent residence in Cumilla. He also promised a job for Bullet Bairagi’s wife to help ensure the family’s financial stability. Reports published by several news outlets show Monirul Haque Chowdhury holding the slain revenue official’s young child and comforting his wife, Urmi Hira, by placing his hand on her head and shoulder while offering condolences.

Therefore, the video shared with the claim that the BNP supported MP of Cumilla Sadar, or Cumilla-6, Monirul Haque Chowdhury was detained with a woman actually shows a different incident. In reality, the woman standing beside him in the video is the wife of Bullet Bairagi.

All social media captions, quotations, and news excerpts in this article have been translated into English from the languages in which they were originally posted or published.