As security fears swirled around cricket star Shakib Al Hasan over his links to Bangladesh’s toppled government, a video made the rounds in social media posts claiming it showed the country’s cricket board boss dancing at a nightclub, apparently ignorant of the issue. However, the man in the clip, which garnered thousands of views online, is in fact an Indian content creator.
“New BCB president Faruque is busy with ‘Dushtu Kokil’. How he will ensure security for Shakib?” read a Bengali Facebook post that shared the video on September 29, 2024.
The clip, which racked up more than 37,000 views, shows a man dancing with two women in a club to Bengali hit “Dushtu Kokil” (Naughty Cuckoo).
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) boss Faruque Ahmed said the board could not guarantee the security of retiring cricketer Shakib Al Hasan if he returned to Bangladesh to play his last Test match (archived link).
As well as a cricketer, Shakib was a former lawmaker in the government ousted by a revolution in August, making him a target of public anger.
The 37-year-old announced his retirement from international cricket after the student-led uprising toppled autocratic premier Sheikh Hasina — but he said he wanted to play one last Test series at home (archived link).
He is among dozens from Hasina’s party facing murder investigations for a deadly police crackdown on protesters.
AFP found the video shared in dozens of Facebook posts which garnered thousands of views.
While some Facebook users pointed out the video was “fake”, others appeared to believe it showed Faruque dancing at a nightclub.
“Take out this broker from the (BCB) president post,” one commented.
“Brother is enjoying in this independent land,” another wrote.
Indian content creators
A reverse image search on Google found the video posted on Instagram on September 13 by India-based content creator Sabetri Debury (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip shared in false posts (left) and Debury’s Instagram post (right):
Debury posted various videos showing herself with the man and woman in the video here, here and here.
One of the videos identified the man as “Arun”.
A search on Facebook found the falsely-shared video posted on September 12 by Arun Naskar, a content creator with more than 21,000 followers.
He posted the clip with the Bengali caption: “The world is a carnival of beauties but DJ Arun’s heart is alone in this carnival”.
Charlotte MASON
Naskar confirmed to AFP that he is the man in the video.
“I am a digital creator based in Kolkata. The other two people seen in the video are also based in Kolkata. This was recorded in September,” he told AFP on October 24.
