Lighthouse Journalism came across a video being widely shared on various platforms. It was being claimed along with the video that it shows a mosque being set on fire by the members of the Bajrang Dal.
During the investigation, we found the viral claim to be false. The video shows a fire at a marriage hall in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.
Claim:
Instagram user x___bipin___07 shared the video with false claim on his profile.
Other users are also sharing the video with same claim.
Investigation:
We started the investigation by running a reverse image search on the keyframes obtained from the video. We cropped the text part from the video.
This led us to a video posted three weeks ago on YouTube. The user wrote that a massive fire broke out at Raj Nagar Extension in Ghaziabad.
We found a few similar videos posted three weeks ago.
We found the video also posted on the Instagram accounts Real Ghaziabad and Apna Ghaziabad.
We also found a few news reports about the fire.
These reports mentioned: A massive fire broke out at a marriage hall in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad on Thursday afternoon. The marriage hall is located in the Rajnagar Extension of the city. After receiving the information, fire tenders reached the spot. Senior officials are also rushed to the place where the blaze erupted. A firefighting operation is currently underway.
Conclusion: An old video of a massive fire at a marriage hall in Ghaziabad is being falsely shared with claims of Bajrang Dal members setting a Mosque on fire. The viral claim is false.
