
Fact Check by Vishvas News: A video showing a crowd walking through a narrow lane is going viral on social media, with claims that it is from Prayagraj. The video is being used to highlight the lack of space in the lanes, suggesting poor arrangements during the Mahakumbh. This has led to criticism of the Uttar Pradesh government for the preparations and infrastructure provided for the event.
Vishvas News found in its investigation that the viral video is being shared with a false claim. This video has nothing to do with the Mahakumbh. Actually, this video is of Radha Rani temple located in Barsana, Mathura and is about a month old. This video of Radha Rani temple is now being made viral with misleading claims.
What is going viral?
On February 3, 2025, Facebook user 'Aarti Bhakre' shared the viral video with the caption, "Historical arrangements of Mahakumbh." The video itself carries the message, "There is no way to walk on the streets of Prayagraj, people are trapped."
Check the archive link of the post here.
Investigation
To know the truth of the viral post, we extracted several keyframes of the video with the help of the Invid tool and searched them with the help of Google reverse image. We found the video on a YouTube channel called Mathura News. The video was shared on January 1, 2025. According to the information available, the video is of the Radha Rani temple in Barsana.
During the investigation, we found the video uploaded on many other YouTube channels with the same information.
Based on the information received, we searched on Google with the help of relevant keywords. We found the viral video on the official Facebook and Instagram accounts of Shyamsunder Goswami, a motivational speaker from Barsana. The video was shared on January 1, 2025, and is said to be of Radha Rani temple in Barsana, Mathura. On searching the profile, we found many other similar videos of the crowd shared on January 1, 2025.
For more information, we contacted motivational speaker Shyamsundar Goswami. Shared the viral video with him. He told us that the viral claim was false. Actually, the viral video was made by a friend of mine from his home and shared with me. After that, I uploaded it on my social media. This video is of the crowd present on the stairs leading to Radha Rani temple in Barsana, which had come to visit on New Year.
We contacted Rakesh Pandey Pandey, editorial in-charge of Dainik Jagran in Prayagraj. He told us that the streets of Prayagraj are not like this.
According to the report published on Jansatta's website on January 14, 2025, Maha Kumbh started on January 13, 2025, and will continue till February 26, 2025.
Finally, we scanned the account of the user who shared the video with the false claim. We found that the user shares posts related to an ideology.
Conclusion: Vishvas News in its investigation found that the viral video of the crowd is being made viral with a false claim. The video has no connection with Mahakumbh. Actually the viral video is of Radha Rani temple of Barsana in Mathura and is about a month old, which is now being shared with misleading claims.
Claim Review: Video of the crowd present in Mahakumbh.
Claimed By: FB User Arti Bhakre
Fact Check: Misleading
(Disclaimer: This story was originally published by Vishvas News, and republished by India TV as part of the Shakti Collective.)
Also Read: Fact Check: Did Rahul Gandhi insult Kharge by removing him from his seat? Know truth
Also Read: Fact Check: No, Indian national wasn't arrested for staring fire in LA neighborhood