Recently, a video is gaining popularity among netizens and is shared widely on the social media platform in which a person spraying fuel around a petrol pump and on an attendant before setting fire to the area and fleeing on a motorcycle. Many people believe that this to protest against the ever increasing prices of fuel in the country.
The prices of the fuels hiked on Thursday, the rise in the fuel rates across the country has reached new record breaking heights, as per the information from the website of Indian Oil Corporation. After a two-day hiatus, petrol and diesel prices were once again hiked with petrol becoming dearer by up to 35 paise and diesel prices becoming costlier by 15 paise across metros, as per the price notification by state-owned fuel retailers.
After the latest hike, petrol is being retailed at Rs101.54 in Delhi, whereas diesel is being sold at Rs89.87. The cost of petrol is Rs107.75 per litre in financial capital Mumbai while diesel price has risen to Rs97.45 per litre. In Kolkata, petrol price reached Rs101.74 per litre and diesel price rose to Rs93.02 per litre.
Diesel prices have spiked across India. This is in contrast to the trend that it was following. The rate for diesel had initially dropped on July 12. After two days of stagnant prices, it has been hiked again on July 15. The current price of diesel in Mumbai is Rs 97.45 per litre. This is a 16 paise increase from yesterday’s rate. In Delhi and Chennai, the prices stand at Rs 89.89 per litre and Rs 94.39 per litre respectively. This marks a price hike of 15 paise for both the metros. Kolkata has the highest rate hike for diesel of the metros. The current price as of today is Rs 93.02 per litre, which is 21 paise more than yesterday. In Bangalore, the price of diesel is Rs 95.26 per litre. This is a 17 paise increase for the city. The rate of fuel is determined by a few major international and national-level factors. On the international side, fuel is dependent on the crude oil prices in the international market, the rate of exchange from the Dollar to Rupee and a few more.
Well, surrounding this, the video is shared roundly over the SNS. But, as per the viral clip, it is from Hyderabad as the man in the video is enraged about the hike in petrol rates. A worker at the gas station tried stopping the man, but the man scared him with a lighter and made him go away. This video was shared widely over Facebook with the caption, “being tired of rising fuel prices, he set the petrol pump on fire.” The same video was shared on Youtube claiming a woman had set the petrol pump on fire in Chandigarh.
While digging into the matter, it was revealed that upon zooming into the number plate of the motorcycle, the number plate was written in Persian, which made it clear that this clip isn’t at all from India. Along with the number plate, the logo on the gas station is actually a logo of a company in Rafsanjan, Iran. On reverse checking the incident, a similar case which took place in Iran came up. And the part from the viral video was also present there. The video was shared with a Persian caption, which translates to, “Strange action of a motorcyclist in setting fire to a gas station.”
Also, Young Journalists Club, an Iranian news agency, had covered the story of setting ablaze a gas station in Rafsanjan. The reports say, “After the police investigation, the cause of this incident was a personal dispute with the agents of the gas station”.
Thus, despite of rising prices of the fuels, this incident did not take place in Hyderabad and the viral video is shared with false claims rather, it’s a video from Rafsanjan, Iran.
