TikTok user falsely claims mayor Shah ordered illegally parked bikes crushed

In September this year, Kathmandu Metropolitan City launched a campaign to demolish illegal structures built along roads and vacate the basements of commercial buildings not being used as required by law. As Balendra Shah, mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, elected as an independent candidate, spearheaded the demolition drive, he received both praise and criticism for it.

A TikTok user, ‘Luv Chan 62’, shared a video claiming that Shah sent a bulldozer to crush illegally parked motorcycles in the city. On August 30, 2022, the TikTok user posted the video with a caption in Nepali: “Illegally parked bikes destroyed. Good job, Balen.” A bulldozer can be seen crushing motorcycles parked next to a road in the 11-second video, which has received 229 comments, 4,496 likes, and 171 shares.

Nepal Check fact-checked the claim made on the TikTok video.

We started by googling ‘Dozer crushes motorbikes.’ On its website, the Indian broadcaster NDTV had published news about the event. According to the report, the New York Police Department in June this year destroyed about 100 seized dirt bikes, all terrain vehicles and other illegal motorcycles deploying a bulldozer.

New York City’s mayor’s office posted a 24-second video to its official Facebook page on June 22, 2022. The viral video and the footage released by the mayor’s office are identical.

We found out that the TikTok video was recorded in June in New York. Therefore, the claim that Balendra Shah, mayor of Kathmandu, ordered the unlicensed motorbikes smashed by a bulldozer is false.

Claim	Claimed by	Nepal Check Verdict
Video shows Balendra Shah, mayor of Kathmandu, ordered unlicensed motorbikes smashed by a bulldozer	TikTok user	False