Video from Bangladesh shared as 'Muslims vandalizing a toll plaza' in India

What is the claim?

CCTV footage purportedly depicting individuals in traditional Muslim attire forcibly breaking a barrier at a toll plaza has gone viral on social media, accompanied by a communal claim that 'Muslims in India' damaged the toll plaza when asked to pay the toll fee.

A user on X (formerly Twitter) shared the video with the caption, “Will Muslims now be charged toll tax in India? Is this your 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas,' @narendramodi ji? The central government and @nitin_gadkari ministry should launch a 'Prime Minister’s Free Toll for Muslims Scheme.'” This post has been shared approximately 300 times and has garnered more than 400 likes.

Archived versions of similar claims can be viewed here, here, and here. Another user shared the video, alleging it to be from Chandigarh.

Screenshots of the viral posts claiming to show Indian Muslims damaging a toll plaza after being asked to pay. (Source: X/Screenshot)

However, this video actually shows an incident at the Kuril toll plaza in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where passengers broke the toll barrier after being denied permission to use the elevated highway.

What we found 

A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video led us to several Bangladeshi media reports confirming that the footage is from the Kuril toll plaza in Dhaka.

A report published by the Dhaka Tribune (archived here) on September 18, 2024, featured a screenshot of the viral CCTV footage as its cover image. The report stated that the incident occurred at 9:48 a.m. on September 18, when toll plaza staff stopped a pickup truck. After being confronted, one of the passengers broke the toll barrier.

The report quoted AHM Akhtar, the project director of the elevated expressway, who said that about 30 to 40 people were in the pickup truck, which is not permitted to use the expressway alongside motorcycles, CNG vehicles, and rickshaws. Akhtar noted that the passengers refused to follow this rule, leading to the incident before they eventually paid the toll.

A two-minute video uploaded to the Dhaka Tribune’s YouTube channel (archived here) on September 18, 2024, matches the visuals from the claim. Titled “Dhaka Elevated Expressway,” the video’s description reiterates that the scuffle occurred at the Kuril Toll Plaza on the Dhaka Elevated Expressway after the truck was denied entry.

A BD News24 report (archived here) quoted Haseeb Hasan Khan, the manager of operations and maintenance for First Dhaka Elevated Expressway (FDEE), the company managing the elevated expressway. Khan stated that the incident resulted from a misunderstanding between the passengers and the expressway staff.

Another report by Songbad Prokash (archived here) indicated that 10 to 15 people were standing in the back of a small truck attempting to use the elevated expressway. When the toll plaza staff cited the rules and denied entry, the angry passengers pushed the staff and removed the barricade to enter the expressway. An investigation into the incident is underway.

Additional news reports about this incident can be found here, here, and here.

We also located the toll plaza on Google Maps (archived here) to confirm that the Kuril toll plaza is situated on the Dhaka Elevated Expressway.

The verdict 

The viral CCTV footage depicting individuals damaging a toll plaza is from Dhaka, Bangladesh, and is unrelated to India or Indian Muslims.

(Translated by Vanita Ganesh)