An image of two police officials standing with a “sadhu” (religious ascetic) is being widely shared on social media with claims that a “militant” disguised as a sadhu was “arrested” at the ongoing Mahakumbh festival in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj.
Claim:
An X user shared this image and wrote, “’Ayub Khan’ a militant, was arrested in Kumbh Mela in Uttar Pradesh, He had come as a sadhu & mingled with our sadhus. He had conspired to commit the greatest crime that his cult teaches. By God’s grace, our sadhus noticed this terrorist and handed him to the police.” Other users also shared the post multiple times, with archive links available here and here.
The Mahakumbh festival is one of the world’s largest gatherings of Hindus, which began on January 13, 2025, and is set to continue until February 26. Celebrated every 12 years, many Hindu pilgrims and sadhus come to the festival to take a sacred dip in the river.
However, we found that the image is fake. The viral image was generated using artificial intelligence (AI).
Investigation:
Logically Facts examined the images and found some discrepancies, suggesting that the images were created using AI. Both police officials were seen wearing different uniforms, and their fingers were not correctly formed.
Further, we ran the image through AI detection tools such as Hive Moderation, which indicated a 99.5 percent likelihood of AI-generated content in the viral image.
A Google search led us to some news reports about the arrest of Ayub Ali at the 2025 Mahakumbh festival, the same first name mentioned in viral claims.
According to a Navbharat Times report published on January 15, a “young man” named Ayub Ali was arrested on suspicion after being spotted at the camp of Yati Narasimhanand during the festival. The report stated that he had entered the camp under the name “Ayush” rather than his real name, Ayub, raising suspicion. Following this, the police were alerted and took him into custody.
Additionally, a Dainik Bhaskar news report noted similar details. The report featured a video showing Ayub Ali, who was arrested by the police. Unlike the sadhu in the viral image, the accused was seen in casual attire, wearing a black hoodie and grey pants.
Logically Facts could not independently verify whether the accused is a “terrorist.” We have contacted the police for further details and will update the check if and when we receive a response.
Conclusion: A militant disguised as Sadhu was not arrested at the ongoing Mahakumbh. The image of two police officials standing with a sadhu is generated using artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
(The fact-check article was originally published by Logically Facts and has been republished by Lighthouse Journalism as a part of Shakti Collective.)