Merely hours after singer Krishnakumar Kunnath – popularly known as KK – passed away after his last live performance in Kolkata on Tuesday, 31 May, videos from his last two concerts held in the city started going viral.
One of the videos, in which the singer can be seen being escorted out of a room by a group of people, was shared by many with a claim that it showed KK being "rushed to the hospital from the venue."
However, we found that the claim isn't true. The video is indeed from Nazrul Mancha in Kolkata, but it is from 30 May, a day before his demise.
A concert was held at the same venue by Vivekananda College on that day. We spoke to the organisers from the college, those managing the event and compared the visuals available on YouTube from 30 May to establish that the video is a day old.
VIDEO AMPLIFIED BY NEWS OUTLETS, OTEHRS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Several news organisations, including NDTV, shared the video of him being escorted out with a claim that it showed him being rushed to a hospital from the concert.
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: NDTV/Screenshot)
Hindi music channel 9XM shared the video on Facebook and wrote that it showed "KK being taken to the hospital." The video has garnered over 85,000 views at the time of writing this story. An archive link of the post can be viewed here.
English news channel CNN News18, The Indian Express and India.com also shared the video with the same claim.
FACT-CHECK: VISUALS PROVE THAT THE VIDEO IS FROM 30 MAY
We checked the singer's social media accounts for photos or videos of the events held on 30 and 31 May and found a photograph posted on 31 May.
The photograph showed him on stage wearing a black-coloured polo shirt.
The caption of the photograph said, "Pulsating gig tonight at Nazrul Mancha. Vivekananda College !! Love you all (sic)".
We then reached out to the event organisers from Vivekananda College, who hosted the event on 30 May, and they confirmed to us that the singer was wearing a black Polo shirt on the day of their event.
The organisers added that the video showing him being escorted out was from 30 May. They added that they created a safe corridor for KK's exit after the event and that video was taken at that point.
The same was confirmed to us by Sourav Ghosh, who is associated with an event company called Black Eyed, one of the organisers. He even shared his picture with KK from the day.
We compared this picture with the viral video, and found that both KK and Ghosh could be seen in the same attire.
We compared this picture with the viral video, and found that both KK and Sourav could be seen in the same attire.
(Source: Altered by The Quint)
A video of KK's performance from the night is also available on YouTube.
Comparing the images, it's clear that the video of the singer being escorted out is from 30 May and not 31 May.
We also found an advertisement of the show on Tribevibe's website and social media handles that clearly stated that the Vivekananda college event was on 30 May.
Tribevibe is an enterprise of BookMyShow.
We found a post about KK's show on 30 May.
(Source: Instagram/Screenshot)
WHAT ABOUT THE EVENT ON 31 MAY?
Another event was organised at the same venue by Sri Gurudas Mahavidyalaya on 31 May.
Ghosh, who also worked on the event on 31 May, shared a video from the day.
In the video, the singer can be seen wearing a different T-shirt.
Image of KK from 31 May.
Photo: Sourced by The Quint
The Quint's MyReport team also received videos and photographs from a person who attended the event on 31 May.
Photo of KK received from an audience member.
(Photo: Sourced by The Quint)
We also accessed a visual of KK's exit from the venue on 31 May, in which he can be seen wearing a different shirt while exiting.
KK exiting the venue on 31 May.
(Source: Accessed by The Quint)
Clearly, the viral video is a day old.
But, this is not the only video which is being linked to the day of KK's death, a video of him performing his iconic song 'Pal' was also shared by many as the 'last performance.' That, too, is from 30 May.
WHAT HAPPENED TO KK?
As per reports, KK was rushed to the Calcutta Medical Research Institute (CMRI) hospital at around 10:30 pm after he was feeling unwell following his performance. The doctors declared him brought dead.
"One case of unnatural death has been registered with New Market PS regarding the death of singer #KK. After getting the family's consent, an inquest and post-mortem will be done. Arrangements are being made for the postmortem at SSKM hospital, Kolkata," ANI reported.
(With inputs from Rahul Sanpui and Debayan Dutta)
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