A photo of a purported letter was shared on social media, with users claiming that it was written by Dhirendra Shastri, the Peethadhishwar of Bageshwar Dham, predicting the recent Maha Kumbh stampede, that happened on January 29. However, an investigation by the PTI Fact Check Desk found that an AI-generated photo was shared on social media with a false claim.
Thirty people were killed and 60 others were injured during a stampede in the Maha Kumbh on January 29.
Claim
A Facebook user shared on January 29 a photo of an alleged letter written, claiming that it was written by Bageshwar Dham head priest Dhirendra Shastri, predicting the Maha Kumbh stampede.
Claim:
The caption of the post, originally in Hindi, read: “Found this page from Ghat. In which yesterday evening itself, Pt. Dhirendra Krishna Shastri ji had written in advance about the incident that happened in the night after seeing it with his trinity. But it had become wet while bathing, so he could not give it to the administration.”
Here is the link and archive link to the post, and below is a screenshot of the post.
Investigation:
The Desk ran the image through Google Lens and found that it was shared by another user with a similar claim. Two such posts can be found here and here, and their archived version can be viewed here and here, respectively.
On watching the photo closely, the Desk found several discrepancies, suggesting that it was AI-generated. The background of the image was blurred and the language seemed unrecognisable.
Taking a cue from this, the Desk ran the images through Wasitai, an AI detection tool, which also suggested the substantial presence of AI content. Below is a screenshot of the result:
In the next part of the investigation, the Desk ran the image through Hive Moderation, another AI detection website, which suggested similar presence of AI content. Below isa screenshot of the result:
In the next part of investigation, we contacted Dhirendra Shastri’s team via e-mail for their comment on the viral claim. The fact-check report will be updated as and when a response is received.
Subsequently, the Desk concluded that an AI-generated image was falsely as letter written by Dhirendra Shastri, predicting the Maha Kumbh stampede.
Conclusion: Multiple social media users shared a photo of a purported letter claiming that it was written by Bageshwar Dham Chief Dhirendra Shastri, predicting the Maha Kumbh stampede. It was found that the viral photo was AI-generated, which was shared on social media as real with a false claim.
The fact-check story was originally published by PTI fact check and has been republished by Lighthouse Journalism as a part of Shakti Collective.
