Armed man in old footage a bodyguard of Awami League leader, not BNP activist
A video has circulated on multiple social media platforms claiming that on the occasion of the 77th founding anniversary of the Awami League, Narayanganj’s top BNP terrorist Kalu Mastan is staging a showdown on the street with a weapon in hand. However, a fact-check by Dismislab reveals that the video is from a 2023 procession for the submission of nomination papers by the then Minister of Textiles and Jute Golam Dastagir Gazi for the Narayanganj-1 (Rupganj) constituency.
According to reports from multiple media outlets, the name of the individual marching publicly with a weapon is Md Zaman. He is the bodyguard of then General Secretary of Kanchan Municipal Awami League, Golam Rosul alias Koli. In connection with this incident, the police later arrested the bodyguard and seized the weapon.
On June 24, a 15-second video was posted from a personal Facebook profile with a caption stating, “Narayanganj’s top BNP terrorist Kalu Mastan. On the occasion of the 77th founding anniversary of the Awami League, BNP terrorists are staging a showdown on the street with weapons in hand like this, but the administration is doing nothing to stop them. Spread the video so that this scene catches the eye of the law enforcement.” In the 15-second video, an individual wearing a red and black t-shirt is seen walking around with a weapon on his back. The NTV logo is visible in the top right corner of the video.
Up until the writing of this report, the video has been viewed more than 49,000 times and shared over 1,000 times.
The video has also been shared with the same claim by multiple personal profiles and pages on Facebook (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). This video was also shared from multiple (1, 2, 3, 4) Instagram accounts.
To verify the authenticity, a reverse image search led to a video report published on November 29, 2023, on NTV News’s verified YouTube channel. The headline of the report was, “Curiosity surrounding the armed individual in the boat candidate’s procession in Nganj [Narayanganj].” This video perfectly matches the circulated video.
For further verification, a 2023 report by Prothom Alo was found. The headline of the report was, “Violating the code of conduct, Jute Minister submits nomination papers by staging a showdown with an armed individual.” Revealing the identity of the armed individual, this report read, “The name of the individual marching publicly with a weapon is Md Zaman. He is the bodyguard of the general secretary of Kanchan Municipal Awami League, Golam Rosul alias Koli. Following the incident, the police arrested the bodyguard and also seized the weapon.”
Reports from multiple (1, 2) media outlets also mentioned the incident as being from the 2023 procession of the Awami League leader. The report by The Business Standard stated, “Followers of the Jute minister stated that the armed individual published in the media is a bodyguard. He works as the bodyguard of Golam Rosul Koli, the general secretary of Kanchan Municipality Awami League and a follower of Dastagir Gazi. During the minister’s showdown, he was openly moving here and there with a shotgun on his shoulder, which is a violation of the code of conduct.”
That is to say, the individual in the video circulated with the claim of being an armed BNP terrorist during the 77th founding anniversary of the Awami League is actually the bodyguard of an Awami League leader.
