Man Caught Smashing Vande Bharat Glass With a Hammer? Truth Behind Viral Video

A viral video purports to catch a man smashing a Vande Bharat train window with a hammer in political protest, sparking widespread outrage online. However, the footage is actually from 2024 and shows a railway maintenance worker routinely replacing a cracked glass panel.

A video claiming to show a man vandalising the Vande Bharat Train has gone viral across social media. It shows him breaking the train window with a hammer. The video claims that the people who oppose Modi are intentionally destroying national assets. 

OBC identified that these viral posts are misleading.

The Viral Video

The video was posted on 30 September from an X account named ‘Lavii K Verma’. The video is captioned  ‘What should be done with such people who have become so blindly opposed to Modi that they are damaging the country’s assets themselves?  Shameful’. As of 1 October, the post has received 534.8 views. 1.9k likes and 1.5k reposts.

Another X user, @SRaghunathaPra1, shared the same video with the caption: ‘What punishment does he deserve ?’ The post had received more than 21.8k views. 

Many users reacted with anger, demanding strict action and criticising the administration. One user commented, ‘Glaring vandalism. Is law enforcement sleeping?’ Another user demanded extreme punishment using casteist remarks, saying, ‘Make him like our ancestors and take away all the benefits and properties and provide him a hut nearby jungle and give him only hammer to defend himself’.

Is This Video Real?

OBC analysed the viral post and conducted a detailed search of official records or credible news reports to verify the existence of such an event. 

We also analysed keyframes from the viral video and confirmed that the same video was also shared in 2024 with false communal claims.

Several media and fact-checking organisations verified these visuals in 2024. According to a report from Boom Live, a senior Indian Railways officer confirmed that the worker, a contractual employee named Manish Kumar, was simply replacing cracked glass during routine maintenance. 

Additionally, we contacted the Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway. They did not confirm any recent incidents of vandalism involving a Vande Bharat train.

Thus, our analysis indicates that many social media accounts are misleadingly sharing a recycled video from 2024 across social media platforms.