‘Fake messages…’: No migrant worker attacked in Tamil Nadu, says Bihar team

Bihar rural development secretary Balamurugan D, who was heading the team, termed the purported videos and news articles on the rumoured attack on workers from Bihar as “fake”, adding that “such incidents never took place.”

A four-member team of officials from Bihar that visited Tamil Nadu to look into rumours of targeted violence against migrant labourers on Friday said that “no such incident took place” in the southern state.

Bihar Rural Development Department Secretary Balamurugan D (L) along with Tiruppur District Collector S Vineeth (C) and Tiruppur Police Commissioner Praveen Kumar Abhinapu addresses a joint press conference after a meeting with the representatives of business and industry associations and migrant workers over the issue of alleged attacks on migrants, in Tiruppur on Sunday. (ANI)

Bihar rural development secretary Balamurugan D, who was heading the team, termed the purpoted videos and news articles on the rumoured attack on workers from Bihar as “fake”, adding that “such incidents never took place.”

“We found the messages, news items being circulated through social media, along with the videos of Bihar migrant workers being thrashed, to be fake... such incidents never took place there,” said Balamurugan while addressing the reporters in Patna on Friday.

Balamurugan said the videos created panic among the workers and their families but it has now ebbed. “The number of calls to the Tamil Nadu government’s helpline number has also reduced from 740 (in Tiruppur) on March 4 to 12-13 on March 10,” said Balamurugan. Earlier in the day, the team had also briefed Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar after presenting its report, on returning from Tamil Nadu. The team had visited Chennai, Tiruppur and Coimbatore districts of Tamil Nadu between March 4 and 7.

Meanwhile, the Bihar police on Friday arrested two men — Rakesh Ranjan Kumar and Rakesh Tiwari— for making “distorted and untrue” video clips on the rumoured attacks on Bihar labourers working in Tamil Nadu, the police said in an official statement.