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2017 video from Canada now being shared as Muslim woman assaulted by French Police - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 5, 2020
A post is being shared on social media claiming it as the video of a young Muslim woman assaulted by a French Policeman. In the video, we could see a policeman slamming a handcuffed woman to the floor and forcefully taking off her headscarf. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim:  Video of  French police assaulting a Muslim woman.
Fact:  This incident took place in Calgary city in Canada, not in France. In 2017, a Calgary cop slammed a handcuffed black woman to the floor while she resisted him taking off her headscarf. This incident in the video is old and has nothing to do with the recent turn of events in France. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of screenshots in the video, similar visuals were found in an article published by the Daily Mail. In the article, it is mentioned that a Calgary cop forcefully hurled a handcuffed black woman to the floor after she resisted him to take off her headscarf. This incident reportedly took place in Calgary city of Canada during 2017. It is mentioned in the article that the Calgary constable Alex Dunn was charged with assault causing bodily harm over the incident during the arrest of Dalia Kafi in 2017. This assault footage was shown to the court recently at Dunn’s trial. Kafi is arrested on the charges of breaching court-ordered curfew in 2017. The black woman’s nose bones cracked as her face hit the ground.
Sharing the same visuals, ‘Global News’ and ‘CBC’ news websites also published articles about this incident. They can be read here and here.
To sum it up, 2017 video of Calgary police assaulting a black woman is now being shared now as a Muslim woman assaulted by French Police.

created: November 5, 2020


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2017 video from Rajasthan shared as recent visuals of doctors arguing during a surgery in Chandigarh - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 5, 2023
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as recent visuals of doctors engaged in a heated argument during surgery at a hospital in Chandigarh. Columnist Tarek Fatah tweeted the same video describing it as the visuals from a hospital in Pakistan. Let’s verify the claims made by these posts.
Claim: Recent video of doctors getting into a heated argument during surgery at a hospital in Chandigarh.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows an old incident that happened in the Umaid hospital in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. The video shows two doctors indulging in a verbal spat while operating on a pregnant woman in Rajasthan, in 2017. The video is old and has nothing to do with Chandigarh or Pakistan. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched for this video using relevant keywords on the internet, a video showing similar visuals was found published by the ‘ANI’ news channel on 30 August 2017. ANI reported it as the visuals of two doctors indulging in a verbal spat during the surgery of a pregnant woman in Jodhpur’s Umaid Hospital. This incident reportedly took place on 29 August 2017.
#WATCH Rajasthan: Verbal spat between two doctors in OT during the surgery of a pregnant woman in Jodhpur's Umaid Hospital (29.8.17) pic.twitter.com/eZfHHISQGB
When we searched for further sources using relevant information on the internet, we found the details of the incident in an article published by ‘The Indian Express’ news website on 30 August 2017.  ‘The Indian Express’ reported that two doctors, identified as Dr Ashok Nanival and M L Tank, indulged in a heated argument while operating on a pregnant woman undergoing an emergency C-section. According to the reports, the medical negligence costed the life of a new-born baby.
Reporting the details of this incident, several news websites published articles in 2017. They can be seen here and here. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the video shared in the post is old and not related to Chandigarh or Pakistan.
To sum it up, a 2017 video of doctors indulging in a verbal spat while operating on a pregnant woman in Rajasthan is shared as recent visuals from Chandigarh.

source: news-factly

created: January 5, 2023

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Sai Krishna Muthyanolla


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2017 video from West Bengal is being shared with a false narrative - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 21, 2020
A post with a video is being widely shared on social media with a claim that it shows BJP leaders being beaten in Northeast India during their door-to-door campaign in favour of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), NRC (National Register of Citizens) and National Population Register (NPR). Let’s analyze the claim made in the post.
BJP leaders being beaten in Northeast India during their door-to-door campaign in favour of CAA, NRC and NPR.
Fact: The video is of West Bengal BJP workers being heckled in Darjeeling allegedly by rebel Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) workers, in 2017. So, the video has nothing to do with the recent CAA, NRC and NPR issues. Hence, the claim is FALSE.
In the video, men wearing BJP scarfs can be seen being attacked and the vehicles in the premises have the registration of West Bengal State. So, when searched on Google with keywords ‘BJP leaders attacked in West Bengal’, many search results were obtained. A news video of ‘Republic TV’ had similar visuals. This news video had the timestamp as ‘October 5, 2017’ and it reported that West Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghosh and other BJP leaders were heckled by a rebel group of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) in Darjeeling during a public meeting.  The group was of the supporters of expelled GJM leader Tamang. More information about the incident can be read here.
To summarize, a 2017 video from WB is being shared with false narrative – ‘BJP leaders beaten in NE during a campaign in favour of CAA, NRC and NPR’.
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created: January 21, 2020


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2017 video from West Bengal shared as BJP leaders thrashed for seeking votes for upcoming elections in UP - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 31, 2022
In the wake of the upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh, a video is being widely shared on social media claiming that BJP leaders were being thrashed for seeking votes. Another video is also being shared in the context of upcoming elections in UP. Let us fact-check this claim.
Claim: Recent video of BJP leaders being thrashed in UP for seeking votes.
Fact: The video is from 2017 and not a recent one. This video shows Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJP) activists attacking the then West Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghosh in Darjeeling. A 2021 video of a clash between SP, BJP workers is also being shared in the context of upcoming elections in UP. Both these videos have nothing to do with BJP leaders being beaten in UP for seeking votes for the upcoming general elections. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When reverse image search is done on the screenshots of the first video, a YouTube video with similar visuals was found. The YouTube video by NMF News uploaded on 06 October 2017, was about an attack on the then West Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghosh in Darjeeling. According to the description of the video, he was allegedly manhandled by the activists of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM).
In Early October 2017,  when the then BJP President Dilip Ghosh went to meet the Gurung’s faction of GJM, Benoy Tamang’s faction of GJM allegedly attacked Dilip Ghosh and his supporters. Similar visuals were also uploaded by other news outlets and they can be watched here and here.
The second video which is being shared in the context of upcoming elections in UP is actually a video from June 2021 when there was a clash between SP, BJP workers during filing of nominations for a district panchayat chief post.
According to an Indian Express article, BJP candidates in UP did face black flags, stones, etc. However, these viral videos have nothing to do with BJP leaders being beaten in UP for seeking votes for the upcoming general elections.
To sum it up, 2017 video of an attack on West Bengal BJP President is being shared as BJP leaders being beaten for seeking votes for upcoming elections in UP.

created: January 31, 2022


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2017 video is being shared as recent visuals of burka-clad women caught casting fake votes in UP elections - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 17, 2022
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as recent visuals of Muslim supporters of the Samajwadi Party caught while casting fake votes in the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Elections. This video shows a woman accusing a group of burka-clad women of carrying fake Aadhar cards and casting fake votes in an election. Sharing the video, this post alleges that the ongoing Hijab controversy was intentionally created to cast fake votes and make SP win in the UP elections. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of burka-clad women who tried to cast fake votes in favour of Samajwadi Party in the ongoing 2022 UP Assembly elections.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows old visuals related to the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Municipal Corporation elections. This video shows the visuals of Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) candidate Shaila Khan seizing fake Aadhar cards from a group of burka-clad women who tried to cast votes in a municipal election polling booth in Rampur. The video shared in the post is old and has nothing to do with the ongoing 2022 UP elections. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On listening to the voice carefully at the initial seconds of the video, we could hear the lady who seized fake Aadhar cards from burka-clad women describing herself as the BSP candidate Shaila Khan. When we searched for this video using these keywords, a video with similar visuals was found posted on Facebook by a BJP worker on 28 November 2017. Sharing the video, he mentioned that Rampur’s BSP candidate Shaila Khan had caught four women while casting fake votes using forged Aadhar cards. A few YouTube channels have also published this video with a similar description.
On searching for further details using keywords and time filters, it is found out that BSP had nominated Shaila Khan as their candidate for the Rampur Municipal Chairman elections held in November 2017. Reporting this news, several news websites published articles in 2017. A few public rally meetings and interviews of Shaila Khan as part of the Rampur Municipal elections can be seen here and here.
The BSP poster of Shaila Khan for the 2017 Rampur Municipal elections can be seen here. We could not find any news report that identifies the burka-clad women who were caught by Shaila Khan as supporters of the Samajwadi Party, while such a possibility cannot be ruled out. All these pieces of evidence indicate that the video shared in the post is old and has nothing to do with the ongoing 2022 UP elections.
To sum it up, an old video related to the 2017 UP Municipal Corporation elections is shared as recent visuals of burka-clad women caught casting fake votes in UP Assembly elections.

created: February 17, 2022


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2017 video of a drunk policeman falsely shared as an incident after lifting of lockdown restrictions on liquor shops - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 5, 2020
A video of a policeman in the inebriated condition is being widely shared on social media with a claim that the incident  took place recently after the government allowed the opening of liquor shops, which were closed due to the complete lockdown in the country. FACTLY has found the video to be of an incident in 2017. The video shows Faizabad Police (Uttar Pradesh) taking a drunk police constable with them after receiving information about him from the public.
Sources:
Claim – Facebook post (archived)
Fact –
1. News18 video – https://hindi.news18.com/videos/uttar-pradesh/faizabad-a-drunken-police-constebale-shake-hands-when-he-saw-camara-1028741.html
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2017 video of IDF soldiers dragging an 8-year-old Palestinian boy in Hebron to identify stone-pelters shared as a recent one - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 3, 2023
A video is being shared on social media claiming it shows recent footage of  Israeli soldiers detaining a 13-year-old boy in the West Bank. Calling the incident a clear violation of human rights, the post alleges that the boy’s family has not been able to contact the child since he was captured by the Israeli soldiers. The video shows a crying little boy being dragged on the streets by soldiers. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent video of Israeli soldiers detaining a 13-year-old Palestinian boy in the West Bank.
Fact: The post shared a 2017 video of Israel Defence Force (IDF) troops dragging a Palestinian 8-year-old boy from house to house to identify other children allegedly accused of throwing stones and a Molotov cocktail on Kiryat Arba Israeli settlement in Hebron. The video shared in the post is old and has nothing to do with the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. Hence, the claim made in the post is Misleading.
On reverse image search of the screenshots of the video shared in the post, the same video was found published by B’Tselem, The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, on 23 March 2017. B’Tselem published the video with the title, “Israeli soldiers drag 8-year-old from home to home looking for stone-throwers, Hebron, March 2017.”
The description of the video states, “At about 1:30 P.M. on 19 March 2017, a force of more than 15 soldiers seized 8-year-old Sufian Abu Hitah, who was out on the street barefoot, looking for a lost toy. Two soldiers dragged him to the al-Harika neighborhood and took him into several homes, demanding he identify children who had thrown stones and a Molotov cocktail at the Kiryat Arba settlement. Over an hour later, several women managed to extricate the boy and return him to his mother. Two local residents, including B’Tselem volunteer May Da’na, captured the incident on video.”
Several news sites have published articles reporting about this incident of IDF forces dragging the 8-year-old Sufian Abu Hitah from house to house in Hebron to identify the children allegedly involved in throwing stones and a Molotov cocktail on Kiryat Arba Israeli settlement in Hebron.
However, the IDF officials have refuted the allegations made by the B’Tselem and said that Abu Hitah was the one suspected of throwing a Molotov cocktail, not rocks, at the settlement. According to the IDF officials, the boy was detained by the soldiers and led home.
To sum it up, a 2017 video of IDF soldiers taking an 8-year-old Palestinian boy from house to house in Hebron to identify stone-throwers is shared as the recent one.

created: November 3, 2023


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2017 video of students attacking UP CM Yogi Adityanath convoy is shared as a recent video - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 15, 2020
A video of protesters stopping and waving black flags in front of a convoy is being shared on social media claiming it as the recent video of protesters attacking Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath’s convoy in Lucknow. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Recent video of protesters stopping the convoy of Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath.
Fact: Video in the post shows Samajwadi Party supporters stopping Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath’s convoy near Lucknow University on ‘05 June 2017’. It is an old video. Hence the claim made in the post is Misleading.
On observing carefully, at the 1.19 seconds of the video we could hear a lady shouting ‘Yogi Sarkar Murdabad’. On searching with the keywords ‘Yogi convoy stopped by protesters’ on Google, similar visuals were found in a video published by ‘Lehren News’ channel on YouTube on ‘12 June 2017’. This video was posted on YouTube with the title ‘Attack on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s Convoy’. On searching for other sources, a ground report of ‘ABP News’ channel was found on YouTube. In the report, it is mentioned that the youth wing supporters of Samajwadi Party attacked the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s convoy on ‘05 June 2017’ while he was heading for a function in Lucknow University.
NDTV news channel reported on ‘10 June 2017’ that the students who protested holding black flags in front of CM Yogi Adityanath’s convoy were denied bail by the local Court in Lucknow. 11 students including 2 girls were denied bail by the court on charges of a security breach in Chief Minister security protocol. Articles published about this incident can be seen here and here.
To sum it up, a three-year-old video is now being shared as a recent video of protesters stopping Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath’s convoy.

created: September 15, 2020


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2017 visuals of Sikh activists defacing Hindi signboards falsely linked to ongoing farmers’ protest - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 12, 2021
A collage of images and a video is being shared on social media claiming that protesting farmers in Punjab are defacing Hindi signboards on National Highways. Visuals of a Sikh man painting black colour on the Hindi language signboard can be seen in the video. Amid the ongoing farmers’ protest against the new farm laws, this post is going viral on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Protesting farmers in Punjab blacken the Hindi language signboards on National Highways.
Fact: Photos shared in the post are related to the Sikh activists’ rally conducted in Punjab during October 2017, demanding precedence for Punjabi language on the signboards. Sikh activists conducted this massive rally along Bathinda-Faridkot National Highway. These images and video shared in the post have nothing to do with the ongoing farmers’ protests. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Images:
On reverse image search of the photos shared in the post, similar visuals were found in an article published by ‘India TV’ news website on 25 October 2017. In the article, it is reported that a group of Sikh activists blackened the Hindi and English signboards along the National Highways in Punjab during 2017. Demanding precedence for Punjabi language on the signboards, a group of Sikh activists reportedly took out this massive rally to blacken the Hindi and English signboards along Bathinda-Faridkot National Highway.  Activists from Dal Khalsa, SAD (Amritsar), BKU (Krantikari) and other organizations participated in this rally to smudge the signboards written in Hindi and English. Reporting the same, ‘India TV’ published a video on their YouTube channel.
Similar images were found in the articles published by ‘Khalsa Force’ website on 10 October 2017 and 21 October 2017. They can be seen here and here. A complete video of this rally is shared in ‘Khalsa Force’ YouTube channel. Reporting this rally organized by the Sikh activists, few other news websites published articles in 2017. They can be seen here and here. From all these pieces of evidence, we can conclude that the images shared in the post are related to the 2017 rally conducted by the Sikh activists.
Video:
On reverse image search of the screenshots shared in the video, similar visuals were found in a YouTube video posted on 22 February 2019. Though we couldn’t find where this video is from, it can be confirmed that this video is on the internet much before the Indian government passed the new agriculture ordinances.
To sum it up, 2017 visuals of Sikh activists defacing Hindi signboards is falsely linked to the ongoing farmers’ protests.

created: January 12, 2021


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2018 accident visuals shared as those from a train between Chhapra & Anand Vihar railway stations - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 23, 2021
A collage is being shared on social media claiming it as the visuals of a train accident on 12 June 2021. This post claim that a train travelling between Chhapra and New Delhi’s Anand Vihar railway station had met with an accident on 12 June 2021. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: A train travelling between Chhapra and Anand Vihar railway station had met with an accident on 12 June 2021.
Fact: The images shared in the post are related to the 2018 fire accident in the Andhra Pradesh Superfast Express train. This fire accident took place at Birlanagar railway station in the Gwalior district of Madhya Pradesh. The accident happened due to an issue in an air-conditioning unit. Also, no such train accident happened recently in between the Chhapra and Anand Vihar route. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
This post shares two different images. Let’s check each photo one by one.
Photo-1:
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, a similar photo was found in an article published by the ‘Amar Ujala’ news website on ‘22 May 2018’. This article reported it as the visuals of fire breaking out from the Andhra Pradesh Superfast Express. This incident reportedly took place at Birlanagar railway station in the Gwalior district of Madhya Pradesh. This fire accident happened due to an issue in an air-conditioning unit.
Reporting this information, several other news websites published articles in 2018. They can be seen here and here. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the image shared in the post is related to an old train accident.
Photo-2:
On reverse image search, a similar photo was found published in an article published by the ‘Rediff’ news website on ‘21 May 2018’. According to an article, the ‘22416/Andhra Pradesh AC SF Express’ train travelling from New Delhi to Vizag caught fire due to an issue in an air-conditioning unit. The same visual was found in a video report published by the ‘India TV’ news channel. So, it can be confirmed that both the images shared in the post are related to the 2018 AP Superfast Express fire accident.
When we searched to check whether any such recent train accident took place in the Chhapra – Anand Vihar route, we could not find any news article reporting any such accident.
In 2019, when the same images were shared as the visuals of a train accident in Kanpur, FACTLY published a fact-check article. It can be read here.
To sum it up, 2018 train accident images are shared as the recent fire accident visuals of a train travelling between Chhapra and the Anand Vihar railway stations.


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2018 article stating that Central Government will stop pre-matric scholarships for SC students from next term shared as recent - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 12, 2023
A post with a newspaper article is being shared on social media which claims that SC scholarships are going to be stopped from the next term by the central government. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: The central government is going to stop providing scholarships for SC students from the next term.
Fact: The article mentioned in the post is from 2018. The union government stopped the pre-matric scholarship scheme for SCs and other minorities in classes 1 to 8 from 2022 as the Right to Education Act covers compulsory free education up to class 8. Hence, the claim made in the post is Misleading.
On conducting a reverse image search of the newspaper article in the post, we found that the article was mentioned in a blog post published in the year 2018. It states that, the Central government will not provide scholarships for SC students from the next session and that the state will have to raise the entire budget from its own resources. However, the article does not specifically mention the name of the scholarship that the central government was going to stop funding for.
Subsequent research on scholarship schemes discontinued by the Central government found that the union government has stopped the pre-matric scholarship for SC, ST, OBC, and minority students of classes 1 to 8 from the academic year 2022-23 as the Right to Education Act (RTE) covers compulsory free education up to class 8 for all students. Only students in classes 9 and 10 are now covered under the pre-metric scholarship scheme. The other scholarships discontinued by the central government to SC and other minorities are
To sum up, a 2018 article stating that the central government will stop scholarships for SC students from the next term shared as recent.

created: September 12, 2023


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2018 event in Saudi Arabia portrayed as visuals of Holi celebrations at Atal Tunnel in India - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 1, 2021
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as the visuals of Holi celebrations at Atal tunnel in Sri Nagar. This video shows colour fireworks near a building. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Holi celebrations at Atul tunnel in Srinagar.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows daylight fireworks at Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture (KACWC) art centre in 2018. KACWC, also called as ‘Ithra’ culture centre celebrated the ‘Tanween 2018’ cultural event with daylight fireworks. This video has nothing to do with India’s Holi festival and the newly constructed Atal tunnel. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search, videos with similar visuals were found posted on social media at least since 2018. They can be seen here, here and here. These posts mentioned that the visuals are from colourful fireworks at the ‘Ithra’ building in Saudi Arabia. King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture (KACWC), also known as the ‘Ithra’ art culture centre is located in Daharan city of Saudi Arabia. A similar video of colour fireworks was found in a tweet by Dr Abdullah Bin Khalid, an assistant professor at Naif Arab University for Security Science. He described this video as ‘Beautiful daylight fireworks show at Ithra in Daharan’.
Beautiful daytime fireworks show at @Ithra in Dhahran pic.twitter.com/paf8Y92wTb
When we searched for the details of these celebrations using the relevant keywords, it is found out that the ‘Ithra’ art centre celebrated the ‘Tanween 2018’ cultural event with daylight fireworks on 20 October 2018. ‘Ithra’ published the videos of this event on their official social media handles. They can be seen here and here.
On searching for Saudi Arabia’s ‘Ithra’ art centre building in Google Maps, we could see a similar visual of the building in search results.
Atal tunnel, the world’s longest highway tunnel located in Himachal Pradesh was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 03 October 2020. The Ministry of Tourism tweeted the visuals of the Atal tunnel in Himachal Pradesh. The Atul Tunnel looks completely different from the building visible in the posted video.
To sum it up, visuals of a 2018 cultural event celebrations in Saudi Arabia are portrayed as those of Holi celebrations at Atal Tunnel in India.


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2018 image is falsely shared as ‘BJP MLA Karni Singh destroyed Ambedkar statue’ - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 28, 2020
An image of a vandalised Ambedkar statue is being shared widely claiming that BJP MLA Karni Singh is the one responsible for the incident. Let’s analyze the claim made in the post.
Image of BJP MLA Karni Singh vandalising Ambedkar statue.
Fact: The incident in the image took place in Deoria (Uttar Pradesh) in 2018. But, there is no BJP MLA with the name Karni Singh. So, the claim is FALSE.
When the image is subjected to reverse image search technique, an article of ‘Jagran’ was obtained in the search results. The article published on 4th March 2018 had the same image and from the article, it was found that the incident took place in Deoria of Uttar Pradesh. In the article, details of the persons involved in this incident were not given. In the post, BJP MLA Karni Singh was claimed to have been involved in that incident. So, when searched on ‘Myneta’ database for MLA Karni Singh, no BJP MLA or any other party MLA with that name was found to exist.
To conclude, a 2018 image is being falsely shared as ‘BJP MLA Karni Singh destroyed Ambedkar statue’.
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created: January 28, 2020


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2018 image is falsely shared as Turkey President refusing to shake hands with Macron - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 12, 2020
A post with an image showing France President Emmanuel Macron offering a handshake to Turkey President Erdogan is being widely shared on social media platforms with the claim that Erdogan refused to shake hands with Macron. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Turkey’s President refused to shake hands with France President Macron.
Fact: The image was actually clicked during United Nations General Assembly session in New York back in 2018. Both the leaders,  Macron and Erdogan indeed shook hands during their meet at the session. Images showing handshake of these leaders was also shared by official Twitter handle of the Turkey government. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Reverse image search of the photo in the post led us to a similar image on Getty Images, a supplier of stock images. According to the description of this image, the image was clicked at the United Nations General Assembly session in New York on 25 September 2018 when French President Macron met his Turkish counterpart. The photograph was credited to ‘LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images’.
Further search on Getty Images led us to another image which shows Macron and Erdogan shaking hands, this image has the same description and photo credits as the image above. With this, we can infer that both the images are clicked during the same meet.
Taking a cue from these images,  Google search with relevant keywords led us to a 26 September 2018 tweet by Directorate of Communications, Turkey which shared the image of Erdogan shaking hands with Macron. According to the tweet, the image is clicked in New York. From the date of the tweet and the place of meeting as mentioned in the tweet, we can infer that this image was also clicked during the UN General Assembly session back in September 2018. Also, we could not find any recent news reports regarding a meeting of both the leaders or Erdogan refusing to shake hands with Macron. We can conclude that the image in the post is from the UN General Assembly back in 2018 and Turkey President Erdogan indeed shook hands with French President Macron during this meeting.
In the light of a standoff between France and Muslim countries over French President Macron’s comments on Islam followed by Turkish President’s call for the boycott of French goods, posts like these are being widely shared across social media platforms with misleading claims.
To sum it up, the image in the post was clicked back in 2018 during UNGA session. Macron and Erdogan indeed shook hands during their meet at the session.

created: November 12, 2020


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2018 image of a Helicopter crash is shared as that of a recent crash in Ladakh - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 14, 2020
A post with the image of helicopter crash is doing rounds on social media with a claim that the crash took place in Ladakh. Through this article let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Image of recent MI-17 helicopter crash in Ladakh.
Fact: The image shared in the post is of an MI-17 helicopter crash which happened in Kedarnath back in 2018. This image has nothing to do with Ladakh. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Reverse image search of the photo led us to a few news articles where the same image is featured. According to one such article dated 30 April 2020, the image is of the MI-17 helicopter crash which happened in Kedarnath, Uttarakhand on the same day.  Few more news reports of the same incident can be read here and here. News video reporting of the same incident can be seen here. With this, we can say that the image is old and has nothing to do with Ladakh.
In the wake of the ongoing skirmishes between the Indian and the Chinese armies along the LAC in eastern Ladakh, images like the one in the post are being widely shared across social media platforms with misleading claims.
To sum it up, 2018 image of a helicopter crash in Kedarnath is shared as that of a recent crash in Ladakh.

created: September 14, 2020


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2018 image of Khalsa Aid’s relief work passed off linking it to recent glacier burst in Uttarakhand - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 10, 2021
In the light of the recent Uttarakhand glacier burst, a post accompanying an image of a Sikh man rescuing people stranded in floodwater is being shared on social media platforms with a claim that the image shows Khalsa aid’s relief work in Uttarakhand. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Image showing Khalsa aid’s relief work in Uttarakhand.
Fact: This image actually shows Khalsa Aid’s relief work during the Kerala floods back in 2018. Multiples news agencies published this image back in 2018. Although few news articles reported that Khalsa Aid has deployed its volunteers for relief work in Uttarakhand in the wake of glacier burst, the image shared in the post is not related to Uttarakhand relief work. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
Reverse image search of the photo in the post led us to a 2018 news article by News 18 which published images related to relief work carried by Khalsa Aid’s volunteers during the Kerala floods back in 2018. The image shared in the post is also featured in the set of images published in this news article. This establishes the fact that the image is not related to relief work carried by Khalsa Aid’s volunteers after the recent Uttarakhand glacier burst.
Few other news articles also published the same image attributing it to Khalsa Aid’s relief work during Kerala floods back in 2018, these articles can be seen here and here.
Although few news articles have reported that Khalsa Aid has deployed its volunteers for relief work in Uttarakhand in the wake of glacier burst, the image shared in the post is not related to Uttarakhand relief work.
To sum it up, an old image from Kerala floods is passed off as Khalsa Aid’s relief work in Uttarakhand.

created: February 10, 2021


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2018 incident of a BJP leader being welcomed with a shoe garland falsely linked to Bihar election - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 20, 2020
Update ( January 24, 2022):This video is being widely shared again ahead of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections.
A post with the video of a leader being welcomed with a garland made out of shoes is being widely shared on social media with the claim that the man who was welcomed with a shoe garland is a BJP leader and the incident took place in Bihar in the wake of upcoming Bihar assembly elections. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: BJP leader being welcomed with a shoe garland in Bihar.
Fact: The incident actually happened in Madhya Pradesh back in 2018 when a BJP leader Dinesh Sharma was campaigning for local body elections. He was welcomed with a garland made out of shoes. The incident has nothing to do with Bihar. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Reverse image search of the screenshots of the video led us to a 2018 news article which reported the incident. According to the article, when a BJP leader Dinesh Sharma was campaigning for local body elections in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh, he was welcomed with a garland made out of shoes by an elderly man in order to express his dissent over the action taken by the authorities against their complaint about shortage of water.
Further search led us to a news video of the incident. Even this video report confirms that the incident took place in Madhya Pradesh back in 2018.
In the wake of the upcoming Bihar assembly elections, posts like these are being circulated on social media with misleading claims.
To sum it up, 2018 incident of a BJP leader being welcomed with a shoe garland in Madhya Pradesh is being falsely linked to Bihar election campaign.

created: October 20, 2020


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2018 news of Salman Khan being sentenced to five years in jail in the blackbucks poaching case linked to Sushant Singh Rajput’s death - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 9, 2022
A post is being shared on social media claiming that Bollywood actor Salman Khan was recently convicted and sentenced to five years in jail. Sharing a video of Salman Khan, this post says that late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s soul will rest in peace after the arrest of Salman Khan. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recently, after the death of Sushant Singh Rajput, Salman Khan was convicted and sentenced to five years in jail.
Fact: On 05 April 2018, a Jodhpur rural court sentenced actor Salman Khan to five years in jail for having poached two blackbucks in Kankani village in 1998. But he was soon granted bail and was released from jail on 07 April 2018. All these events took place before actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death in June 2020. The video shared in the post was published by Salman Khan himself on his Instagram page, on 20 July 2019. Salman Khan was not convicted again recently in any of the cases. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched to check whether Bollywood actor Salman Khan was recently arrested in any of the cases after the death of Sushant Singh Rajput, we could not find any recent press reports informing such news.
In April 2018, a Jodhpur rural court pronounced the verdict holding Salman Khan guilty in the 20 year old blackbucks poaching case. The Jodhpur rural court sentenced Salman Khan to five years in jail for having poached two blackbucks in Kankani village, in 1998. On 05 April 2018, Salman Khan was taken into custody in the courtroom and later, was shifted to the Jodhpur Central Jail on the same day.
But, Salman Khan was soon granted bail and released from the Jodhpur Central Jail on 07 April 2018. The video shared in the post was published by Salman Khan himself on 20 July 2019, stating, “Posting the old fashioned way”.
Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead in his Bandra residence on 14 June 2020. But Salman Khan was sentenced to five years in jail in 2018, two years before the death of Sushant Singh Rajput. Salman Khan was not convicted again recently in any of the cases.
To sum it up, Salman Khan was sentenced to five years in jail and was soon released after being granted bail in 2018, much before the death of Sushant Singh Rajput.

created: September 9, 2022


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2018 news report is being shared now as RBI's new banking rules w.e.f. 20 January 2023 - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 3, 2023
A clip of a news bulletin by Zee Business is being shared on social media. The news presenter in this clip explains that effective from 20 January, free banking services will be discontinued. The description of the social media post which shared the clip reads ‘*RBI’s New Banking Rules w.e.f 20.01.2023*’ Let’s fact-check this claim through this article.
Claim: Free banking services to discontinue from 20 January 2023 – RBI.
Fact: The news clip shared in the viral post is a clipped version of a news bulletin published by Zee Business in January 2018. Reportedly, in 2018 when this news went viral, the Government of India clarified that the claim was baseless. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Based on the Zee Business logo that appears throughout the video clip, we understood that the viral clip could be a snippet from a News Bulletin published by Zee Business. We searched the internet with relevant keywords to look for the video published by the official social media handles of Zee News, which led us to one of their Tweets from January 2018. This tweet contains a longer version of the video clip in the viral post. The text in this tweet reads, ‘20 जनवरी से महंगी हो जाएगी बैंकिंग ! देखिए, किस काम के लिए कितना चार्ज लगेगा?‘
#DNAMoney | 20 जनवरी से महंगी हो जाएगी बैंकिंग ! देखिए, किस काम के लिए कितना चार्ज लगेगा? pic.twitter.com/ZCvq1zKUAw
Further search on the internet for news reports published on these alleged new banking rules led us to multiple news reports (here and here) from 2018. The Government of India reportedly said these claims are just ‘baseless rumours. ‘Reacting to the hoax, Rajeev Kumar, secretary of the Department of Financial Services, tweeted: “No proposal by Banks to discontinue free services from 20th January. Pure Rumours. Pl Ignore..” IndiaTV News reported. Rajeev Kumar also posted a circular by the Indian Banks’ Association, which labelled these news reports as baseless and false. You can read his tweets here and here.
Indian Bank Association clarification on rumours on discontinuation of free services by Banks@pmoindia@finmin@PTI@ANI pic.twitter.com/liA89uF6cJ
To sum up, 2018 Zee News report is now being falsely shared as RBI discontinuing free banking services from 20 January 2023.

created: January 3, 2023


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2018 photo from Rajasthan is shared as recent visuals of Brahmins protesting against BJP in Uttar Pradesh - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 7, 2022
A photo is being shared on social media claiming it as the recent visuals of Brahmins burning BJP flags and protesting in front of the BJP office in Devria (also called Deoria) district in Uttar Pradesh. In the wake of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022, this photo is being shared on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent visuals of Brahmins burning BJP flags in Deoria, Uttar Pradesh.
Fact: The photo shared in the post shows an old protest that took place at Rajasthan’s Kotputli municipality in 2018. Expressing anguish over BJP denying Kotputli constituency ticket to Hansraj Patel, his supporters burned BJP flags and chanted anti-BJP slogans by burning effigies of BJP leaders. The photo shared in the post is old and has nothing to do with the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the screenshots in the video, similar visuals were found posted on social media at least since 2020. They can be seen here and here. When spiritual guru Acharya Pramod tweeted the same photo with a similar claim in July 2020, a Twitter user in a reply shared a screenshot of the ‘Dainik Bhaskar’ article that carried the same picture and clarified that the photo shows an old protest that took place during the 2018 elections. The article was published on 20 November 2018 with a title, “सोमवार को भाजपा की पांचवीं सूची में कोटपूतली सीट पर जब मुकेश गोयल का नाम – आया तो हंसराज पटेल ने बागी उम्मीदवार के…” (when translated to English, the text states, “On Monday, when Mukesh Goyal’s was announced in the BJP’s fifth list in Kotputli seat, Hansraj Patel turned the rebel candidate”.
When we searched for more details of this protest using these keywords, we found the ‘Dainik Bhaskar’ article reporting a similar protest incident that took place at Rajasthan’s Kotpuli constituency in 2018.  According to the details reported in the article, as part of the 2018 Rajasthan Legislative elections, BJP nominated Mukesh Goyal as their candidate for the Kotpuli constituency, denying the ticket to Hansraj Patel. Disappointed over the party’s decision, Hansraj Patel filed his nomination as a rebel candidate. Expressing anguish over BJP’s decision of denying the party ticket to their leader, Hansraj Patel’s supporters had burned BJP flags and chanted anti-BJP slogans by burning effigies of BJP leaders. Also, according to the details provided in the article, Hansraj Patel belongs to the Gujjar community.
The ‘Indoria Times’ news channel published a video related to the Hansraj Patel’s supporters’ protest against BJP in Kotpuli. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the photo shared in the post is old and not related to the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Elections.
To sum it up, a 2018 photo from a protest in Rajasthan is being shared as the recent visuals of Brahmins protesting against BJP in Uttar Pradesh.

created: January 7, 2022


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2018 photo is falsely shared as Ashok Gehlot serving tea to Congress Party colleagues amid the political crisis in Rajasthan - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 28, 2020
Photo of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot serving tea is widely doing the rounds on Facebook. The photo is being shared amid the political crisis in the state and is being claimed that Ashok Gehlot is doing so to convince his party MLAs. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Photo of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot serving tea to convince his party MLAs amid the political crisis in the state.
Fact: The photo is not a recent one and has nothing to do with the ongoing political crisis in Rajasthan. The photo is of Ashok Gehlot serving tea to Congress Party workers after Rajasthan Assembly Election results in 2018. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we subjected the image to reverse image search technique, a link of ‘Getty Images’ website was obtained in the results. The article in the link had the same photo and description said that the photo is of Ashok Gehlot serving tea to Congress Party workers after Rajasthan Assembly Election results-2018. So the photo is not recent and has nothing to do with the ongoing political crisis in Rajasthan.
On 12 July 2020, Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan Sachin Pilot had revolted against the state government and claimed to have the support of 30 Congress and independent MLAs. Later on, AICC had sacked Sachin Pilot from the position of deputy CM and the party’s Rajasthan unit chief because of his open rebellion. The political crisis in the state is ongoing. Further information about it can be read here and here.
To sum it up, 2018 photo of Ashok Gehlot serving tea to Congress Party workers after Rajasthan Assembly Election results is being shared amid the political crisis in the state.
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2018 photo is now shared as Tejashwi Yadav's protest march for the 20-year-old girl burnt alive in Bihar - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 18, 2020
A photo is being shared on social media claiming that the RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav led a candle march in support of the girl who was burnt alive in Bihar. A 20-year-old girl was allegedly burnt alive for resisting molestation in Vaishali district of Bihar. After battling her life for 15 days in Patna Government hospital, she lost her life on ‘15 November 2020’. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav’s candle march to protest for the girl burnt alive in Bihar.
Fact: Photo shared in the post is an old one. In 2018, Tejashwi Yadav lead a candle march in protest of declining law and order in Bihar. This march was organised in protest of the killing of a young business man in Patna. This photo has nothing to do with the recent death of a 20-year-old girl in Bihar. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, a similar photo is found in an article published by ‘Zee News’ news website on ‘24 December 2018’. In the article, it is mentioned that the RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav led a candle march in protest of declining law and order in Patna, Bihar. This march was organised to protest the killing of a young business man in Patna.
Sharing the same photo in his tweet, Tejashwi Yadav attacked Nitish Kumar government for declining the law and order in the Bihar state. More news articles about this candle march lead by Tejashwi Yadav can be seen here and here.
नीतीश सरकार अपराधियों के आगे नतमस्तक है। नीतीश जी और सुशील मोदी अपराधियों के आगे नाक रगड़ रहे है।
व्यापारी वर्ग सपरिवार आक्रोशित है, ख़ौफ़ में है।@RJDforIndia उद्यमियों के साथ इस दुख की घड़ी में साथ है।उद्यमियों को डरने की जरुरत नहीं है।कैंडल मार्च मे बड़ी तादाद में लोग शामिल थे pic.twitter.com/ooAXomWW9x
A 20-year-old girl was burnt alive for resisting molestation in Vaishali district of Bihar. After battling her life for 15 days in Patna Government hospital, she lost her life on ‘15 November 2020’. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav posted a tweet about this incident. In the tweet, he attacked the NDA lead Bihar government for this incident.
कहाँ है एलईडी की रोशनी में दिल्ली से बिहार आकर जंगलराज खोजने वाले?
Nation wants to know जंगलराज का महाराजा कौन?? https://t.co/2ebXMqhmLQ
To sum it up, a 2018 photo is now being falsely shared as Tejashwi Yadav’s protest march against the killing of a 20-year-old girl who was allegedly burnt alive after she resisted sexual harassment in Bihar.

created: November 18, 2020


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2018 photo of Nalanda Medical College Hospital ward is shared as the recent condition of government hospitals in Bihar - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 21, 2020
Photo of a hospital ward with knee-deep rainwater is shared on social media claiming it as the recent condition of a hospital in Patna, Bihar. The text on the image also raises the question ‘Is this how the Bihar government going to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic?’. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Recent photo of a government hospital ward in Patna (Bihar), flooded with rainwater.
Fact: The photo shared in the post is from 2018 and is of a hospital ward in Nalanda Medical College Hospital (NMCH), Patna. In 2018, due to the heavy rains, the hospital wards in NMCH were filled with rainwater and sewage. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, a similar photo was found in an article published by ‘Hindustan Times’ on ‘30 July 2018’. In the article, it is mentioned that because of  the continuous heavy rains in Patna, hospital wards including ICUs inside the Nalanda Medical College Hospital (NMCH) were filled with knee-deep rainwater. It is also mentioned that small fishes and insects were visible in that rainwater, creating an unusual sight for the attendants of patients as well as the nurses. The hospital authorities of NMCH claimed that they were helpless as water-logging inside the hospital is an unending problem during the monsoon season. Articles with a similar context showing the same photo were found in ‘India Times’ news website and in ‘NewsBytes’ news portal.
In 2019, similar water-logging incident took place in the Nalanda Medical college Hospital. Article and video footage related to that incident could be seen here and here.
To sum it up, an old photo is being shared as the recent condition of a government hospital in Bihar.
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2018 photo shared as King Charles wearing a wrongly buttoned coat after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth-II - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 20, 2022
A photo is being widely shared on social media claiming that King Charles-III was seen wearing a wrongly buttoned coat in public. This post claims that it is a recent picture captured after the death of his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth-II. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent photo of King Charles-III wearing a wrongly buttoned coat after the death of his mother and late Queen Elizabeth-II.
Fact: The photo shared in the post was taken on 01 November 2018, when the then Prince Charles-III visited the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Fajara, Gambia. Charles-III did button his coat in the wrong way when this photo was captured at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery. But the photo shared in the post is old and was not taken after the death of Queen Elizabeth-II. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, the same photo was found on the ‘Getty’ Images website published on 01 November 2018. The description of the photo states, “Britain’s Prince Charles (C), the Prince of Wales, and Camilla (L), the Duchess of Cornwall, visit the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Fajara on November 1, 2018”. A few other image-sharing websites like Alamy have also published the same image with a similar description.
The photo was credited to Reuters photojournalist Luc Gnago and the AFP news agency. A few other news websites have also published the same photo describing it as a picture captured during Prince Charles’s visit to the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Fajara. They can be seen here and here. The ‘Reuters’ published a few other pictures from the same ceremony where we could see Prince Charles had correctly buttoned his coat.
A few recent visuals of King Charles-III meeting prominent political leaders and the public after the death of his mother can be seen here and here. King Charles’s attire from his proclamation ceremony can be seen here. King Charles was not seen in a wrongly buttoned coat in any of these videos.
To sum it up, a 2018 photo is being shared as recent picture of King Charles buttoning his coat in a wrong way after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II.

created: September 20, 2022


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2018 photos of PM Modi paying respects at the Sant Kabir Das mausoleum linked to the ongoing UP elections - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 18, 2022
A collage of images is being shared on social media claiming it as the recent visuals of PM Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath offering prayers at a Mosque ahead of the UP Elections results on 10 March 2022. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent pictures of PM Modi and Yogi Adityanath offering prayers at a mosque ahead of the UP Elections results on 10 March 2022.
Fact: The photos shared in the post were taken in 2018 when PM Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath visited the Sant Kabir Das mausoleum in Maghar, Uttar Pradesh. On 28 June 2018, marking the 500 death anniversary of the poet, PM Modi and Yogi Adityanath visited Kabir Das mausoleum and offered chadar on Kabir Das’s Mazar. The photos shared in the post are old and not related to the ongoing UP Elections. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When we searched to check whether PM Narendra Modi and UP Yogi Adityanath had recently visited a mosque ahead of the Uttar Pradesh election results, we could not find any recent news report about such a visit.
On reverse image search of the photos shared in the post, it is found that all the photos shared in the post show old visuals from Narendra Modi’s 2018 visit to the Sant Kabir Das mausoleum in Maghar, Uttar Pradesh. In June 2018, PM Narendra Modi along with Yogi Adityanath had visited Sant Kabir Das mausoleum in Maghar town of the Sant Kabir Nagar district in Uttar Pradesh. Several news organizations have published these photos of PM Modi and Yogi Adityanath paying respects to the Sant Kabir Das’s Mazar. They can be seen here and here.
On 28 June 2018, marking the 500 death anniversary of Sant Kabir Das, PM Modi visited the shrine of Kabir Das in Maghar. PM Modi offered ‘Chadar’ and flowers on Kabir Das’s Mazar and paid his respects to the poet. Narendra Modi tweeted a few photos from his visit to the Sant Kabir Das mausoleum on 28 June 2018.
The ideals of Sant Kabir Das Ji, his emphasis on social equality, brotherhood and justice inspire every Indian.
Today I had the honour of paying tributes at the Sant Kabir Samadhi and offering a ‘Chadar' at the Sant Kabir Mazaar in Maghar. Here are some photos. pic.twitter.com/gw7Wk5q6Hu
To sum it up, the 2018 photos of PM Narendra Modi paying respects at Sant Kabir Das mausoleum are being linked to the ongoing UP elections.

created: February 18, 2022


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2018 proves to be the bloodiest year for Security Forces in Jammu & Kashmir in a decade
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 15, 2019
The average number of terror related incidents in Jammu & Kashmir have decreased fivefold during the seven-year period from 2011 to 2017 compared to the period from 2004 to 2010. However, the last three years (2016 to 2018) have seen increased terror activity in Jammu & Kashmir with security forces suffering the highest casualties after 2007. The number of terror related incidents also doubled in this 3 year period compared to the previous 3 years.
Close to 40 security personnel belonging to the CRPF were killed in a IED blast near Pulwama in one of the deadliest attacks on security forces in Jammu & Kashmir.  In terms of the number of casualties, the year 2018 has proved to be the bloodiest year for security forces in J&K after the year 2007. In the year 2007, security forces suffered 110 casualties in J&K. After 2007, the number of casualties was less than 80 in each till the year 2016.
Significant increase in terror related incidents in the last 3 years
The number of terror related incidents in J&K has significantly decreased after 2007. A total of 2565 terror incidents were witnessed in 2004. Between 2004 & 2010, the annual average number of terror related incidents in J&K was 1287. The average has come down to 260 for the period between 2011 & 2017. However, in the last three years (2016 to 2018), there has been a significant increase in the terror related incidents.  The number of such incidents  between 2016 & 2018 is more than twice the number of such incidents between 2013 & 2015.
2018 proves to be the bloodiest year for Security forces after 2007
In the year 2004, 281 security personnel were killed in terror related incidents in J&K. The casualty figure has decreased continuously in the years after 2004 and reached 75 in the year 2008. The casualty figure has remained at less than 75 till the year 2015. In fact, the casualty figure has been less than 50 in four of these years. But in the year 2016, the casualty figure increased to 82 and for the year 2018, it stood at 91, the highest since 2007. In other words, 2018 has proved to be bloodiest year for the security forces after 2007.
The increase in terror related activity is also evident in the casualty figure of the terrorists. Between 2011 & 2015, the casualty figure of the terrorists was about 100 or less in each of the years. In 2016, it increased to 150 and further increased to 213 in 2017 and to 257 in 2018. The 2018 figure is the highest ever after 2008.
Infiltration attempts also on the rise
The increase in terror related activity is further corroborated by the steep increase in the number of infiltration attempts across the LoC. From 489 such attempts in 2010, the number of infiltration attempts had come down to 121 in 2015. In 2016, it has more than tripled to reach 371. It has decreased slightly to 323 in 2018.
There has also been a substantial increase in the number of ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the LoC. The number of ceasefire violations have increased from about 44 in 2010 to 1599 in 2018, an increase of almost 35 times.
Featured Image: Terror related incidents in Jammu & Kashmir

created: February 15, 2019


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2018 video falsely shared as ‘Alia Bhatt arriving at the hospital after Rishi Kapoor’s death’. - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 4, 2020
A video is being shared widely on social media with a claim that it shows Alia Bhatt arriving at the hospital to support Ranbir Kapoor after his father Rishi Kapoor’s death. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Video of Alia Bhatt arriving at the hospital after Rishi Kapoor’s death.
Fact: Video shared as Alia Bhatt arriving at the hospital after Rishi Kapoor’s death is an old one. The video was taken in 2018 at Raj Kapoor’s funeral. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When the screenshots of the video were run through Google Reverse Image search, a similar video was found in the search results. This video on YouTube has some visuals shown in the initial part of the posted video. The video was uploaded on YouTube in 2018 with the description that it was taken at Krishna Raj Kapoor’s funeral.
So, when searched with keywords, another video from Krishna Raj Kapoor’s funeral was found which has the same visuals of Alia Bhatt, Karan Johar and Aamir Khan as shown in the posted video.
Other visuals in the posted video can be also found in the newspaper articles related to the Krishna Raj Kapoor’s funeral. Krishna Raj Kapoor died in 2018. So, the visuals are not related to the recent death of Rishi Kapoor’s.
To sum it up, a video taken in 2018 falsely shared as ‘Alia Bhatt arriving at the hospital after Rishi Kapoor’s death’.
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2018 video falsely shared as public vandalizing petrol bunk due to hike in prices - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 28, 2020
A video showing people vandalizing a petrol pump, is being shared on social media with a claim that the public is showing their anger towards the continuous hike in petrol prices in the recent days. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Public destroying a petrol pump in protest of the continuous hike in petrol prices.
Fact: The video shared in the post is related to an incident that took place in Odisha in 2018. In 2018, locals of Puri attacked a petrol pump for dispensing less fuel to the customers. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the screenshots in the posted video, we found similar videos were shared on Facebook during 2018. These can be watched here and here. In their posts, it is referred as an incident happened in a petrol pump in Puri. Using these keywords when we searched for additional information, it is found that local people of Puri attacked a petrol pump for dispensing less fuel than what was paid by the customers. According to the article published by Odisha bytes, this incident took place on 29 September 2018.
When the same video was shared with a false narrative in 2018, Kumbharapada police clarified to fact-checking portal BOOM that locals attacked that petrol pump on allegations of dispensing less fuel to the customers.
To sum it up, an incident that took place during 2018 is falsely shared as public attacking a petrol pump in protest of the continuous hike in the prices of petrol in the recent days.
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2018 video of a clash between supporters of the BJP MLA from Maharajganj, and the public is shared as recent - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 4, 2022
In the wake of the upcoming elections in UP, a video through a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that the BJP MLA from Maharajganj had been beaten by the public recently. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Maharajganj BJP MLA beaten by public recently.
Fact: The video is from 2018 when people from Maharajganj raised slogans and clashed with the supporters of BJP MLA Jai Mangal Kanojia. There are no recent videos of Maharajganj BJP MLA being beaten by the public. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
The video on the top right corner had the logo of News24. When reverse image search is done on the screenshots of the video with relevant keywords, the same video was found on YouTube. The video uploaded on 05 December 2018 is about a clash between the supporters of the Maharajganj BJP MLA Jai Mangal Kanojia and the public from the assembly constituency.
The people in Maharajganj district were raising slogans of Murdabad against the BJP MLA, Jai Mangal Kanojia, as he allegedly did not fulfill any promises made to them. After this,  a clash broke out between the supporters of the MLA and the public there. Later, looking at the situation, the BJP MLA escaped from the place. Further, there are no recent videos of Maharajganj BJP MLA being beaten by the public.
To sum it up, a 2018 video of a clash between supporters of the BJP MLA from Maharajganj, and the public is shared as recent.

created: February 4, 2022


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2018 video of a dance event in Spain is falsely shared as the celebrations for the construction of Ayodhya Ram Mandir - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 29, 2020
Video of an Indian troop dancing on the streets of Spain is being shared on social media claiming it as the celebrations in Spain for the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Indians in Spain celebrating the construction of Ayodhya Ram Mandir.
Fact: The video shown in the post is related to an International Folk music festival conducted in Spain, during the year 2018. Mumbai based dance group ‘Swargandhar Dhol Tasha Pathak’ performed a dance event in that International festival conducted in Spain. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the screenshots in the posted video, we found videos showing similar visuals in the YouTube channel of ‘Swargandhar Dhol Tasha Pathak’. The videos can be watched here and here. In 2018, a Mumbai based dance group ‘Swargandhar Dhol Tasha Pathak’ performed a dance event in the International Folk music festival conducted in Spain. The video shown in the post is related to that performance in Spain. Information about the ‘Swargandhar Dhol Tasha Pathak’ dance group’s selection to perform at the International Folk music festival in Spain was mentioned in an article published by ‘Mid-Day.com’ news website.
Major festivals in Mumbai like Gudi Padva and Ganesh Chaturthi are incomplete without the resounding beats of dhols. Swargandhar, a city-based Puneri dhol tasha group got an opportunity to give a dhol dance performance at the UNESCO-partnered International folk music festival conducted in Spain, during the year 2018.
To sum it up, 2018 dance performance in Spain is falsely shared as the celebrations in Spain for the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
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2018 video of a shoe hurled at Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan shared as a recent incident - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 14, 2020
A video is being shared on social media claiming it to be the recent video of protesters throwing slippers at Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan in a meeting. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Recent video of protesters throwing chappals at Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan.
Fact: Incident shared in the video took place in 2018 at a meeting in Churhat town of Madhya Pradesh. Protesting against the SC/ST act introduced by Shivraj Singh Government, protesters hurled stones and chappals at CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan during his election campaign at Churhat. Hence the claim made in the post is Misleading.
On reverse image search, similar visuals were found in a YouTube video posted by ‘The Times of India’ news website on ‘03 September 2018’. In the video, it is mentioned that a shoe was hurled at Madya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan during a public meeting in Churhat town of Sidhi district in Madhya Pradesh. It is mentioned in the article that during the ‘Jan Aashirvad Yatra’ of Shivraj Singh Chauhan in 2018, protesters attacked the bus carrying Shivraj Singh Chauhan near Churhat town in Sidhi district. Following this attack, a protester threw a shoe at Shivraj Singh Chauhan during a public meeting in Churhat. Sharing the information about this incident, ‘The Hindu’ news website published an article on ‘04 September 2018’. It is mentioned in the article that some upper caste people pelted stones and shoes at the Shivraj Singh Chauhan’s bus as part of their protest against the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act implemented by the Madhya Pradesh Government.
Reporting the Incident, ‘NDTV’ and ‘ABP News’ news channels posted videos on YouTube on ‘03 September 2018’. They can be seen here and here.
To sum it up, a 2018 video is shared as the recent video of people throwing slippers at Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan.


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2018 video of a young man who climbed on a high-voltage tower to commit suicide in Columbia shared now with a communal narrative - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 13, 2023
A video is being shared on social media claiming it is the visuals of a Muslim man offering namaz prayers on an electricity transmission tower. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of a Muslim man offering Namaz prayers on an electricity transmission tower.
Fact: The video shows an old incident that took place in Barranquilla City in Columbia. In May 2018, a 20-year-old young man lost his life after he was electrocuted while climbing down a high-voltage tower in Barranquilla. The young man climbed the tower intending to commit suicide, and when he changed his mind and tried to climb down, he accidentally got in contact with a live wire and suffered electrocution. The video does not show a Muslim man reciting Namaz on an electricity tower. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
On reverse image search of the screenshots of the video, a video with similar visuals was found published by the Metatube website on 17 May 2018. Sharing the video, the news site reported that a young man lost his life after he was electrocuted while trying to get off a high-voltage tower in Barranquilla, Columbia.
Reporting the complete details of the incident, several other news websites published articles in 2018. They can be seen here, here, and here. As per the reports, on 13 May 2018, Victor Jose Arroyo Gonzalez, a 20-year-old young man, who was deaf and dumb, climbed a high-voltage tower in Barranquilla City and threatened to throw himself off. The young man climbed the tower to commit suicide, but he changed his mind after listening to the police and onlookers. While climbing down the tower, the victim accidentally got in contact with a live wire and suffered electrocution.
To sum it up, a 2018 video of a young man who climbed on a high voltage tower to commit suicide in Columbia is shared as the visuals of a Muslim man performing namaz on an electric tower.


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2018 video of Aamir Khan apologising for the failure of 'Thugs of Hindostan' linked to his recent film Laal Singh Chaddha - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 12, 2022
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as visuals of Bollywood actor Aamir Khan admitting the box office failure of his recent film ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’. This video shows Aamir Khan acknowledging that somewhere in the making of the film, they went wrong and that most of the audiences did not like his film. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Aamir Khan admitting the failure of his recent film ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows old visuals of Aamir Khan admitting the failure of his previous action-adventure film ‘Thugs of Hindostan’. This video has nothing to do with Aamir Khan’s recent film Laal Singh Chaddha. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When one observes the video carefully, one can see a watermark ‘हिन्दी Rush’ on the top right side of the video. When we searched for this video using relevant keywords on the internet, we found the same video published on the ‘Hindi Rush’ YouTube channel on 27 November 2018. ‘Hindi Rush’ published this video describing it as the visuals of Aamir Khan apologising for the failure of his film, ‘Thugs of Hindostan’.
On searching for further sources, a video with similar visuals was found published by the ‘Amar Ujala’ news website in 2018. Reacting to the audience’s response to Thugs of Hindostan, Aamir Khan said, “I take full responsibility for thugs not working with the audience. I think we went wrong but I would like to take full responsibility for that. You can be sure that we tried our level best. But we went wrong somewhere in the making. A few audiences liked the film. And we would like to thank them. But a majority of the people did not like our film. We could realize that”.
After the release of his recent film ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’, Aamir Khan did not publicly speak about the audience’s reaction to his film (as of 12 August 2022). From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the video shared in the post is old and not related to Aamir Khan’s recent film Laal Singh Chaddha.
To sum it up, an old video of Aamir Khan apologising for the failure of ‘Thugs of Hindostan’ is falsely linked to his recent film ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’.


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2018 video of Deepika Padukone talking about her battle with depression linked to her upcoming release ‘Pathaan’ - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 22, 2022
Amid the online backlash and boycott trends over Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone’s upcoming film ‘Pathaan’, a video is being shared on social media claiming it as visuals of Deepika Padukone getting emotional while responding to the boycott demands of her film Pathaan. This post accuses BJP of creating this hate campaign against Bollywood. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent video of Deepika Padukone emotionally responding to the online hate campaign against her film ‘Pathaan’.
Fact: The post shared an old video of Deepika Padukone emotionally talking about her battle with clinical mental depression. Deepika Padukone shared her story as part of the ‘Live Love Laugh Foundation’s awareness campaign on World’s Mental Health Day in 2018. The video shared in the post is old and has nothing to do with her upcoming release ‘Pathaan’. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the screenshots shared in the post, a video showing similar visuals was found posted by a Facebook user on 11 October 2018. This Facebook page published the video stating, “On World Mental Health Day, Emotional Deepika Padukone Says She’s #Notashamed.” When we searched for further sources using keywords on the internet, an extended version of the video was found published on the ‘Live Love Laugh Foundation’ YouTube channel on 10 October 2018. This YouTube channel described it as the visuals of Deepika Padukone revealing her story and the hurdles she faced while she was diagnosed with clinical mental depression.
‘NDTV’ published an article reporting about this video released by Deepika Padukone as part of the Live Love Laugh Foundation’s awareness campaign on World’s Mental Health Day in 2018. Recalling her battle with depression, Deepika Padukone said, “Waking up was tough because I didn’t want to face the day.” Further, she added, “I was extremely conscious of being surrounded by people because if I need to break down where I could do that”.
Deepika Padukone on multiple occasions opened up about her battle with depression and called herself a depression survivor. Lately, Deepika Padukone did not release any video responding to the boycott campaign against her upcoming film ‘Pathaan’.
To sum it up, 2018 video of Deepika Padukone emotionally talking about her battle with mental depression is linked to her upcoming release ‘Pathaan’.

created: December 22, 2022


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2018 video of DMK leader Selva Kumar kicking a woman is shared with a false narrative - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 13, 2020
A video is being shared widely on social media with a claim that it shows Tamil Nadu DMK party Leader Selva Kumar kicking a lady doctor on duty. But, FACTLY has found that the video is related to an incident in 2018 and the lady being kicked in the video is not a doctor. According to news reports, the incident happened at a salon in Perambalur (TN) in 2018. The woman in the video is the owner of the salon and allegedly had a monetary dispute with Selvakumar. As the video went viral in 2018, Selvakumar was suspended from the DMK party and was arrested by the Police.
Sources:
Claim – Facebook post (archived)
Fact –
1. ANI Tweet – https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1040148919232028673
2. News article – https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/dmk-man-kicks-assaults-woman-tn-beauty-parlour-party-suspends-him-88284
3. News article – https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/city/chennai/on-cam-dmk-leader-kicks-woman-at-a-beauty-parlour-arrested/videoshow/65798243.cms
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2018 video of female students thrashing an eve-teaser in Uttar Pradesh shared now with a false communal narrative - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 29, 2023
A video is being shared on social media claiming it shows recent visuals of Hindu girls thrashing a Muslim man for allegedly trapping girls into love jihad. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Hindu girls thrashing a Muslim man who allegedly trapped girls with love jihad.
Fact: This video shows a 2018 incident of girl students thrashing an eve-teaser inside the Dharm Singh Saraswati Balika Inter College premises in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh. The eve-teaser who was assaulted by girls in the video was Kapil Chauhan and there is no communal angle in the incident. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
On reverse image search of the screenshots in the video, a video with similar visuals was found published on a YouTube channel in December 2018. This YouTube channel published this video with the description, “JAI HO: 3 girls thrash eve teaser after locking down college campus at Baghpat in UP. Girls do it”. ‘The Times of India’ published the same video on 10 December 2018 and reported it as the visuals of female students thrashing an eve-teaser inside school premises in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh.
When we searched for further details of the incident, we found an article published by ‘The Quint’ related to this incident. As per the report, a group of female students from the Dharm Singh Saraswati Balika Inter College in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat have thrashed a man with sticks for allegedly harassing them. Speaking to the ANI, then Baghpat SHO Sanjeev Kumar informed the accused name as Kapil Chauhan and said he was taken into custody on 09 December 2018.
Upon searching for further details, we found a tweet published by the Baghpat police related to this incident on 10 December 2018. The Baghpat police through the tweet informed that the accused was taken into custody by the Baraut police. The First Information Report (FIR) pertaining to this incident explicitly mentioned the name of the accused as Kapil. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the video shows an old incident in which there is no communal angle.
To sum it up, a 2018 video of female students thrashing an eve-teaser in Uttar Pradesh is shared now with a false communal narrative.

created: November 29, 2023


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2018 video of Tejashwi Yadav dancing at his brother’s wedding ceremony linked to the recent political rejig in Bihar - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 16, 2022
A video is being widely shared on social media claiming it as recent visuals of Lalu Prasad Yadav’s sons Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav dancing in joy after JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar ended his party’s alliance with NDA and re-joined Mahagathbandhan. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent video showing RJD leaders Tejashwi and Tej Pratap Yadav dancing in joy after Nitish Kumar ended an alliance with NDA and re-joined Mahagathbandhan.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows old visuals of Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav dancing to a DJ song at the latter’s wedding ceremony held in May 2018. The video shared in the post is old and has nothing to do with the recent political rejig in Bihar. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
On reverse image search of the screenshots of the video, a video with similar visuals was found published by the ‘Zee Bihar Jharkhand’ YouTube channel on 12 May 2018. ‘Zee Bihar Jharkhand’ reported it as the visuals of Tejashwi Yadav dancing at brother Tej Pratap Yadav’s wedding ceremony. A few other news channels have also published this video with a similar description in May 2018. They can be seen here and here.
When we searched for further sources, we found the same video on the official Twitter handle of Tejashwi Yadav. Tejashwi Yadav tweeted this video on 12 May 2018 saying-“Desi boys on the floor..Brother’s wedding..We are as we are…Simple & Straight forward”. Lalu Prasad Yadav’s eldest son Tej Pratap Yadav was married to RJD MLA Chandrika Rai’s daughter Aishwarya Rai on 12 May 2018.
Desi boys on the floor..Brother’s wedding..We are as we are…Simple & Straight forward pic.twitter.com/eDov7E2Jcq
Reporting the details of this viral dance video, several news websites have published articles in 2018. They can be seen here and here.
To sum it up, 2018 video of Tejashwi Yadav dancing at his brother Tej Pratap’s wedding ceremony is linked to the recent political rejig in Bihar.


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2018 video of Varanasi flyover collapse is falsely shared as Balanagar-Jeedimetla flyover collapse - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 24, 2021
Update (17 February 2023): A video is being shared on social media (here, here) claiming that the video shows a flyover collapse in Thane on 16 February 2023. However, as explained below, the video actually shows the collapse of an under-construction flyover in Varanasi back in 2018
A post accompanying a video that appears to be like a bridge collapse on  is being shared with a claim that the video shows Balanagar-Jeedimetla flyover collapse in Hyderabad. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Balanagar- Jeedimetla flyover collapse.
Fact: The video actually shows the collapse of an under-construction flyover in Varanasi back in 2018. Multiple news agencies have reported the incident back then. Telangana police have also clarified that this video has nothing to do with Hyderabad. Also, there are no news articles reporting Balanagar-Jeedimetla flyover collapse. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Reverse image search of the screenshots of the video led us to a 2018 news report which reported the same incident. However, as per this report, the video shows collapse of a part of a flyover that was under construction in Varanasi in 2018. This establishes that this is an old video and has nothing to do with Hyderabad.
Google search with relevant keywords yielded us multiple 2018 news articles which reported the incident. One such report by Indian Express which published images similar to the screenshots in the viral video can be read here. ANI also shared images of the accident on twitter. All these ascertain that the video shows the collapse of a flyover in Varanasi back in 2018.
#Visuals from the site of collapse of portion of an under construction flyover, in Varanasi's Cantt. area; 12 people dead, several feared trapped, death toll expected to rise pic.twitter.com/5ABKL6hB4v
Further search also led us to a tweet by Telangana state police dated 24 February 2021, in response to a query by a Twitter user regarding the veracity of the video. Telangana Police had categorically stated that the video is related to an incident that happened in Varanasi a couple of years ago.
No sir, It's not belongs to Balangar-Hyderabad.
It's a two years old video of Varanasi. Please go through the link https://t.co/FmsslZNSSa
In fact, if an incident of such nature takes place, media would have covered it. But we could not find any recent new articles or reports related to Balanagar-Jeedimetla flyover collapse. All these establish the fact that the video has nothing to do with Hyderabad.
To sum it up, an old video of Varanasi flyover collapse is being falsely shared as of Balanagar-Jeedimetla flyover collapse.

created: February 24, 2021


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2018 video shared as Jyotiraditya Scindia’s latest comments against BJP after Bharat Jodo Yatra - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 21, 2022
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as the visuals of Jyotiraditya Scindia’s latest comments expressing his disappointment over the ruling BJP government in India. This post claims that Jyotiraditya had changed his mind after Bharat Jodo Yatra and returned to the Congress party leaving BJP. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent video showing Jyotiraditya Scindia’s latest comments against the BJP after the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows Jyotiraditya Scindia’s old speech at the 84 Congress Plenary Session 2018. Jyotiraditya Scindia made these comments before he left the Congress party and joined BJP. Jyotiraditya Scindia is currently serving as the Union Minister of Civil Aviation and Steel. Lately, Scindia did not make any statement against the BJP government, after the commencement of the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On observing the video carefully, at 1:56 minutes of the video, one could see the visuals of the Congress Party flag with the text, “भारतीय राष्ट्रीय कांग्रेस 84वां महाधिवेशन 2018” (In English: Indian National Congress 84th Plenary Session 2018), during Jyotiraditya’s speech.
When we searched for this video using keywords on the internet, a video with similar visuals was found published by the Indian National Congress YouTube channel on 19 March 2018. Congress Party published this video with the title, “Jyotiraditya Scindia Speech at the Congress Plenary Session 2018”. From 1:38 minutes of the video, we could see similar visuals as shown in the post. Jyotiraditya Scindia, during his speech at the 84 Congress Plenary Session, slammed the BJP government over their policies for farmers, failure in providing jobs for unemployed youth and other issues.
Jyotiraditya Scindia left Congress and joined BJP in March 2020. He is currently serving as the Union Minister of Civil Aviation and Steel. Lately, while speaking about the Congress’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, Jyotiraditya Scindia reportedly said, “Congress need to join themselves before joining India”. Jyotiraditya Scindia did not make any comments against BJP after Bharat Jodo Yatra.
To sum it up, a 2018 video of Jyotiraditya Scindia’s speech at the 84 Congress Plenary Session is shared as his latest comments against BJP after Bharat Jodo Yatra.

created: October 21, 2022


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అది 2018 లో శబరిమల పై న్యూస్ రిపోర్ట్ చేయడానికి వెళ్తున్నప్పుడు న్యూస్18 బృందం పై జరిగిన దాడి వీడియో - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 18, 2019
‘శబరిమల అయ్యప్పస్వామి వారి ఆలయ ఆచారానికి వ్యతిరేకంగా నిన్న ఆలయ ప్రవేశానికి వెళ్తున్న మహిళను అడ్డుకుట్టున్న అయ్యప్ప స్వామి భక్తులు’ అంటూ ఒక వీడియోని ఫేస్బుక్ లో చాలా మంది షేర్ చేస్తున్నారు. ఆ పోస్ట్ లో ఎంతవరకు నిజముందో విశ్లేషిద్ధాం.
నిన్న శబరిమల ఆలయ ప్రవేశానికి వెళ్తున్న మహిళను అడ్డుకుట్టున్న అయ్యప్ప స్వామి భక్తులు.
ఫాక్ట్ (నిజం): అది ఒక పాత వీడియో. గత సంవత్సరం శబరిమల పై న్యూస్ రిపోర్ట్ చేయడానికి వెళ్తున్నప్పుడు న్యూస్18 సిబ్బందిని కొంత మంది అడ్డుకొని, వారి కారుని ద్వంసం చేసినప్పుడు తీసిన వీడియో అది. కావున పోస్ట్ లో తాజాగా జరిగిన ఘటనగా చెప్తూ ప్రజలను తప్పుదోవ పట్టిస్తున్నారు.
పోస్ట్ చేసిన వీడియో యొక్క స్క్రీన్ షాట్స్ ని యాన్డెక్స్ రివర్స్ ఇమేజ్ సెర్చ్ లో వెతకగా, ఆ వీడియో గత సంవత్సరం న్యూస్18 సిబ్బంది పై జరిగిన దాడికి సంబంధించిన వీడియో అని సెర్చ్ రిజల్ట్స్ ద్వారా తెలుస్తుంది.
గూగుల్ లో ‘News18 attacked sabarimala’ అని సెర్చ్ చేయగా, గత సంవత్సరం జరిగిన ఈ ఘటనపై న్యూస్18 వారు రాసిన న్యూస్ ఆర్టికల్ సెర్చ్ రిజల్ట్స్ లో వస్తుంది. శబరిమల పై న్యూస్ రిపోర్ట్ చేయడానికి పంబ దగ్గరికి వెళ్తున్న రాధిక రామస్వామి అనే న్యూస్18 రిపోర్టర్ ని మరియు కారులో వచ్చిన మిగితా బృందాన్ని కొంత మంది నిలక్కల్ బేస్ క్యాంపు దగ్గర ఆపి, వాళ్ళ కారుని మరియు కెమెరాలను ద్వంసం చేసినట్టుగా ఆర్టికల్ ద్వారా తెలుస్తుంది. ఈ సంఘటన పై న్యూస్18 వారు చేసిన ట్వీట్లను ఇక్కడ మరియు ఇక్కడ చూడవొచ్చు. కావున, గత సంవత్సరం జరిగిన సంఘటనకి సంబంధించిన వీడియో పెట్టి, తాజాగా జరిగినట్టు చెప్పి తప్పుదోవ పట్టిస్తున్నారు.
#BREAKING — Is this devotion on plain goondaism? Watch and decide. #SabarimalaForAll pic.twitter.com/61TL49EHE2
చివరగా, 2018 లో శబరిమల పై న్యూస్ రిపోర్ట్ చేయడానికి వెళ్తున్నప్పుడు న్యూస్18 బృందం పై జరిగిన దాడి వీడియో. తాజాగా జరిగిన ఘటన వీడియో కాదు.
ఏది ఫేక్, ఏది నిజం సిరీస్ లో మా వీడియోస్ మీరు చూసారా?

created: November 18, 2019


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2018 video shared as recent visuals of KCR calling himself best friend of PM Narendra Modi - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 30, 2022
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as recent visuals of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao calling himself the best friend of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after his daughter K. Kavitha was questioned in the Delhi liquor scam. In the wake of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officers recording a statement from KCR’s daughter in the Delhi Excise Policy case, this video is going viral on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of KCR calling himself the best friend of Narendra Modi after his daughter Kavitha was questioned by the CBI in the Delhi Excise policy case.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows KCR’s interaction with the press on 03 March 2018. During the press meet over reservations in government jobs and education, KCR called himself the best friend of PM Narendra Modi and stated that he has no problems with Modi or any other leader of the BJP but is concerned with the slow progress and no qualitative development in the country. The video shared in the post is old and has nothing to do with the Delhi Excise Policy case. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When we searched for this video using relevant keywords on the internet, a video with similar visuals was found published by the ‘NTV Telugu’ news channel on 03 March 2018. During a press meet over reservations in  jobs and education, KCR called himself the best friend of PM Narendra Modi and stated that he has no problems with PM Modi or any other leader of the BJP but is concerned with the slow progress and no qualitative development in the country.
Responding to a journalist’s question to elaborate the agenda that Telangana MPs are going to raise in the parliament and in particular what problems he was facing with Prime Minister Modi or the Central government, KCR said, “As a matter of fact, I have nothing against Modi. I have all respect for him as the Prime Minister of India. I am his best friend also. People hardly know what friendship we have between us.” Reporting the same, several news websites published articles in 2018.
KCR called PM Narendra Modi a good friend on multiple occasions. But after the ED chargesheet named his daughter K Kavitha in the Delhi Excise policy case, KCR did not make any such statement again in any press meet. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the video shared in the post is old and has nothing to do with the recent Delhi liquor scam.
To sum it up, the 2018 video is shared as recent visuals of KCR calling himself the best friend of PM Narendra Modi after his daughter was questioned by the CBI i the Delhi liquor scam.

created: December 30, 2022


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2018 visuals of a Waterspout captured in Pune is shared as clouds pulling water from the Ganges in Allahabad - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 2, 2022
A post which shows a cylindrical shape cloud formation is widely shared on social media. The post claims that clouds are pulling water from the River Ganga in Sangham, Prayagraj. Let’s fact-check the claims.
Claim: Clouds pulling water from the Ganga river in Prayagraj.
Fact: This is an old video from 2018, and the phenomenon shown in the video occurred in Pune. This phenomenon is known as Waterspout, and usually occurs in tropical conditions. Waterspout does not suck water from the waterbody as the post claims. Hence the claims made in the post are MISLEADING.
A reverse image search with the screenshots of the video led us to a YouTube post which contains the same video as in the now viral post. The post description says that this happened in Pune near Nazre Dam.
After searching the internet with relevant keywords, we found a few news reports that confirm this. As per these reports,this phenomenon had happened at Nazre Dam in Pune. These news reports from 2018 can be read here, here and here. Additionally, searching on the internet to see if such an incident had recently happened in Prayagraj has not yielded any relevant results.
Are the clouds really sucking water?
The viral post claims that in the video, the clouds are sucking water from the river. To understand this, we searched the internet to discover this phenomenon. The naturally occurring phenomenon seen in the video is known as Waterspout. Multiple videos and images on the internet match the occurrence shown in the video, and they are videos of waterspouts formed over various waterbodies across the globe. These videos can be seen here, here and here. National Geographic states,’ A waterspout is a column of cloud-filled wind rotating over a body of water.’ An article published on their website mentions, ‘Despite its name, a waterspout is not filled with water from the ocean or lake.’
Further, it reads that Waterspout descends from a cumulus cloud. It does not “spout” from the water. From this evidence, we can conclude that water is not getting sucked by the clouds in the video. Further information about Waterspout and its types can be found here and here.
To summarise, this video which shows a waterspout like incident is not from Allahabad; it is an old video captured in 2018 at Pune.

created: August 2, 2022


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2019 Lok Sabha General Election schedule is passed off as that of 2021 West Bengal assembly polls - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 18, 2021
A post that shares a purported schedule of upcoming Bengal assembly elections is being shared on social media platforms. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: West Bengal 2021 assembly election schedule.
Fact: The schedule of Bengal assembly polls is not yet released. PIB through a tweet also iterated the same. This schedule being shared is actually that of 2019 Lok Sabha general elections in West Bengal.  Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Search on Election Commission of India website did not yield us any results with respect to the schedule of the upcoming assembly elections. Also, we could not find any news articles stating the release of the West Bengal assembly election schedule.
Further search on West Bengal CEO website yielded us the schedule of 2019 Lok Sabha General Elections. In this schedule, the poll dates of 2019 elections to West Bengal Parliament constituencies are the same as those in the post, except for the change in year. Also, the names and number of constituencies mentioned in the post are actually of the 42 Parliament constituencies in Bengal. All these establish that the schedule of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections is being falsely shared as the upcoming assembly election schedule.
Google search with relevant keywords led us to a tweet by PIB dated 16 February 2021 debunking this purported schedule of Bengal assembly elections. According to this tweet, the election schedule of West Bengal is not yet released, and the tweet rated the news as fake.
A document is doing rounds on social media claiming that the dates for 2021 #WestBengal Legislative Assembly elections have been declared by the Election Commission of #India.
#PIBFactCheck: This claim is #Fake. No such announcement has been made by the Election Commission. pic.twitter.com/hifx3dRqLL
In view of the upcoming Bengal assembly polls, posts like these are being shared with false and misleading claims.
To sum it up, 2019 General Election schedule is passed off as that of the upcoming West Bengal 2021 assembly polls.

created: February 18, 2021


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2019 image is being shared with a false narrative that 75 Indian soldiers were killed in Ladakh - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 27, 2020
An image of Tricolor draped coffins is being widely shared on social media claiming that it shows 75 Indian troops killed by China at Ladakh. Over the past few days, Indian and Chinese troops appear to be heading towards a face-off in several disputed areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh. However, FACTLY has found the image going viral on social media to be of 2019 and not related to any recent incident. As per PTI, the image is of a wreath-laying ceremony at CRPF camp in Budgam and it shows Tricolor draped coffins of the CRPF personnel who had lost their lives in Pulwama terror attack in February 2019. Also, there is no news of Indian soldiers being killed by China at Ladakh recently.
Sources:
Claim – Facebook post (archived)
Fact –
1. PTI photo – https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-unites-in-mourning-for-crpf-jawans-killed-in-pulwama-terror-attack/story-SvovdiXhs5Dq9fKZFn4NmO.html
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2019 image of Kolhapur (Maharashtra) floods is being shared as ‘Exclusive image of Bihar’ - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 28, 2020
Photo of a road submerged in floodwater while several areas were inundated with flood water is being shared on social media claiming it as the pathetic situation in Bihar. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Photo of a road submerged in floodwater in Bihar.
Fact: The photo is not related to the recent floods in Bihar. It was captured during the Kolhapur (Maharashtra) floods in 2019. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we subjected the image to reverse image search technique, an article of ‘The Hindustan Times’ with the same image was obtained in the results. The image in the article had the description– ‘Flood situation in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur as on August 7, 2019’.
The surroundings in the photo can also be seen in a video with the title ‘Flood of Panchaganga River Kolhapur 2019’. So the photo was taken during the Kolhapur (Maharashtra) floods in 2019.
In August 2019, Kolhapur and Sangli districts of Maharashtra faced severe floods. Several areas of Kolhapur were inundated with floodwater after the Panchganga river had received huge amounts of water. Further information about the Kolhapur and Sangli floods can be read here.
To sum it up, 2019 image of Kolhapur (Maharashtra) floods is being shared as ‘Exclusive image of Bihar’.
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2019 images of an Iraqi photographer crying are falsely linked to Messi’s farewell from FC Barcelona - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 10, 2021
A post with a set of images is being widely shared on social media claiming that the cameraman crying in three images was doing so during Messi’s farewell. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Images of a Cameraman crying while he was covering Messi’s farewell.
Fact: The images show an Iraqi photographer crying after Iraq was knocked out of the AFC Asian Cup 2019 by Qatar. These images of the cameraman crying have nothing to do with Lionel Messi’s farewell. Lionel Messi broke down at his final press conference as a Barcelona player on 08 August 2021. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When reverse image search is done on the image of the cameraman, a Tweet with the same image was found. This tweet was made on the official AFC Asian Cup Twitter page on 24 January 2019. The tweet mentioned the crying cameraman as an emotional and passionate moment of an Iraqi photographer during the round 16 clash against Qatar in AFC Asian Cup 2019.
Passionate. Emotional moment for an Iraqi photographer during the Round of 16 clash against 🇶🇦 ! #AsianCup2019 pic.twitter.com/KZoXsp1N4U
Taking a cue that the person in these images is an Iraqi photographer, we searched Google for all three images of the person crying. We found twitter posts (here and here) that had the same images of the photographer taken in January 2021. Even these tweets confirm that the images were taken during the AFC Asian Cup 2019.
An Iraqi photographer the moment his country got knocked out of the Asian Cup.
😢🇮🇶 pic.twitter.com/4v3jo4GdzT
In a press conference, Lionel Messi announced his departure from FC Barcelona after almost 21 years on 08 August 2021. Bidding farewell from Camp Nou (home stadium of FC Barcelona), Lionel Messi couldn’t hold back his tears while addressing the press.
FACTLY had earlier debunked other claims that linked the images of the same photographer crying to the clashes at Al-Aqsa Mosque in 2021; and Dhoni’s dismissal during the 2019 world cup. These articles can be read here and here.
To sum it up, 2019 images of an Iraqi photographer crying are falsely linked to Messi’s farewell from FC Barcelona.