Fact Check: Old Video Of BJP Leader Dheeraj Ojha Resurfaces With Misleading Claim

New Delhi (Vishvas News): A video showing a man lying on the road and accusing the Superintendent of Police (SP) is going viral on social media. The video is claimed to be recent and features Raniganj BJP MLA Dheeraj Ojha, who was allegedly beaten up by the SPF Pratapgarh and is now lying on the road to protest.

Vishvas News investigated the viral claim and found it to be misleading. The video is not recent but dates back to 2021. During the UP Panchayat elections that year, Ojha staged a protest in front of the DM’s residence, making several allegations. However, the DM later denied all these allegations.

What is going viral?

On April 9, 2025, a Facebook user ‘Nitish Rajbhar Ji’ shared the viral video with the caption, “ If this is the condition of a BJP MLA, what will happen to the public…these people lying on the dharna are not ordinary people, they are BJP MLA from Raniganj Pratapgarh, UP, Dheeraj Ojha…they are saying that the police beat him up with force and even tore the clothes of the MLA.”

Investigation

To verify the truth behind the viral claim, we conducted a Google search using relevant keywords. This led us to a related report on the Navbharat Times website published on April 7, 2021. According to the report, “The person seen in the viral video is the then BJP MLA from Raniganj assembly seat in Pratapgarh district, Abhay Kumar alias Dheeraj Ojha. He had sat on a dharna at the DM residence alleging rigging in the voter list.”

During our investigation, we found another report related to the viral video on the official YouTube channel of ABP Ganga, uploaded on 7 April 2021. According to the information available, “The then BJP MLA Abhay Kumar Ojha alias Dheeraj Ojha had made several allegations against the DM. He also said that the name of his supporter is not in the voter list. The voting list has been tampered with. He started protesting by lying on the ground. After this, when the then SP Akash Tomar reached the spot, he got more angry and lay down on the road after taking off his clothes. He also accused the DM of beating him.”

According to a report published on TV9’s website on April 7, 2021, “ The then MLA alleged that there are some people against whom there are many cases including the Goonda Act, yet the DM did not take any action regarding the elections. He informed about such people but the administration did not take cognizance of it. Along with this, the names of many eligible voters could not be included in the voter list. He had given the list of such eligible people to the DM, but the administration did not take any action on it. The DM had denied these allegations.”

For further clarity, we contacted Ramesh Yadav, a reporter from Dainik Jagran Pratapgarh. He told us that the video features former BJP MLA Dheeraj Ojha and dates back to the 2021 Panchayat elections in UP. At that time, Ojha levelled several allegations against the DM and staged a protest in front of the DM’s residence.

Finally, we scanned the account of the user with the misleading claim of the video and found that the user has around 10000 followers and shares posts related to a specific ideology.

Conclusion: Vishvas News investigated the claim about the viral video of BJP leader Dheeraj Ojha and found it to be misleading. The video is not recent but dates back to the 2021 Panchayat elections in UP, where BJP leader Abhay Kumar alias Dheeraj Ojha staged a protest in front of the DM’s residence, making several allegations against him

Tags

• BJP
• Dheeraj Ojha
• Raniganj BJP MLA Dheeraj Ojha