From fake claims around the Tirupati Balaji temple prasad to an unrelated clip being falsely linked to All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen's (AIMIM) rally in Mumbai, here is our recap of the top five pieces of misinformation from this week.
1. Firm Run by Muslims Supplied Adulterated Ghee to Tirupati Temple? A Fact-Check
A major controversy erupted related to the prasad of Tirupati Balaji temple, when reports of substances like beef fat and fish oil being found in it came to the surface.
Following this, a social media post went viral claiming that the top officials of the company that supplied ghee to the temple belonged to the Muslim community.
However, we found that the viral post did not show the names of people working in the Indian company named 'AR Dairy Food Private Limited'.
On the contrary, it showed employees of a Pakistani company called 'AR Foods (Pvt) Limited'.
You can read the full story here.
2. Old Clip of MP High Court Viral With Lawyer Being Misidentified as ‘Ghiyasuddin'
A video of a judge threatening to issue a contempt notice against a lawyer went viral on social media platforms with users claiming that it showed a recent incident.
The users further claimed that the lawyer was named 'Ghiyasuddin', who had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Madhya Pradesh High Court against the recitation of self-styled godman, Bageshwar Dham Sarkar.
We found that the PIL was filed in 2023 against Sarkar's recitation scheduled in Balaghat, however, the lawyer seen in the viral video was actually identified as one 'Gudda Singh Uddey'.
Read our fact-check here.
3. Unrelated Visuals of Crowd Gathered on Streets Linked to AIMIM Mumbai Rally
Media outlets, such as Free Press Journal, Asianet Newsable, and Amar Ujala, shared a video of a huge crowd gathered on the streets linking it to the recent protest rally held by the AIMIM in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Along with this, AIMIM Gujarat's Facebook page as well as other social media users shared the video with a similar claim.
An archive of the report can be found here.
(Source: FPJ/Screenshot)
But we found that the video was neither related to Mumbai nor was it captured in India. The clip could be traced back to 12 September and was taken during Pope Francis' visit to Timor-Leste.
You can read the full story here.
4. Clip of Attack on Odisha Theatre Artists Shared With Misleading Communal Claim
Social media users shared a video which showed a man on stage saying that he would convert Hindus to Muslims. The video further showed the man getting attacked on the stage.
Those sharing the video uploaded it with a caption that said, "A peaceful was giving speech against Hindus A single Hindu man went on stage and gave him in front of peaceful fringe mob (sic)."
5. No, This Video Doesn’t Show People ‘Invading’ Bhagyalakshmi Temple in Hyderabad
A video, which showed the police retaliating to control the crowd when it started pushing against the barricades in Hyderabad, was widely shared on the internet with a communal claim.
People shared the video claiming that it showed Muslims trying to invade the Bhagyalakshmi Temple.
In reality, the viral video showed a commotion between the police and the people participating in an Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi procession after a DJ set caught fire.
You can read the full story here.
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