Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become essential today than ever before.
Claim
Nepal’s deposed King to be taken to India on a special chopper of Indian Army for the consecration ceremony of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
Fact
The former monarch actually visited various Hindu and Buddhist shrines in Nepal’s Hetauda on January 21.
A social media post claiming that a special helicopter of Indian Army is taking Nepal’s former King Gyanendra Shah to Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh state of India for the Pran Prathistha, or consecration ceremony, of a newly-built Ram Mandir (temple) is going viral among Nepali social media users.
The consecration or ‘Pran Pratistha’ ceremony of the newly-built Hindu temple (Ram Mandir) is being held amid a grand ceremony in Ayodhya on Monday (January 22).
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @rajtantra0 posted a video carrying images showing an aircraft of Indian Army and Nepal’s deposed Hindu monarch King Gyanendra Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the newly built Hindu Temple. Text superimposed on the video reads, “A special helicopter of India Army will take the King to India at 1 pm on Magh 7 (January 21).”
The video posted on January 22 has garnered 275 likes, two users have shared it and six people have commented until the last count.
The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the authenticity of the claim made in the viral video, Newschecker took several keyframes from the viral video and conducted reverse searches on them.
A reverse search on a frame showing an Indian Army helicopter led us to an image whose frames exactly matched the image carried in the viral video. The image, dated March 4, 2013, showed a MI-17 twin-engine turboshaft, medium transport helicopter of Russian origin with a capacity of 24 troops or 3.3 tonnes of freight.
We, then, conducted several searches on Google by using relevant keywords, and found an article, dated January 21 2024, published in Nagarik online confirming that the former King visited Bagmati province’s capital Hetauda and performed worship at various Hindu and Buddhist shrines on January 21.
We also found an article, dated January 18 2024, published on People’s review online confirmed that the King is scheduled to visit various Hindu and Buddhist shrines in Hetauda on January 21.
Further, Newschecker reached out to Gyanendra Shah’s press secretary, Phaniraj Pathak, who confirmed that the claim is misleading as the former Hindu monarch doesn’t have any plan to attend the consecration ceremony of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Thus, our findings clearly showed that Nepal’s former King Gyanendra Shah visited various Shrines and he has not flown to Ayodhya on a special chopper of Indian Army.
Conclusion
The viral video claiming that ex-King Gyanendra Shah is being taken to Ayodhya for the consecration ceremony of the newly-built Hindu temple is misleading.
Result: False
Sources
Jet Photos, March 4, 2013
Nagarik News, January 21, 2024
People’s Review January 18, 2024
Direct Contact with Ex-King’s Press Secretary
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Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become essential today than ever before.
Have you encountered situations where misinformation about public figures influenced public discourse or perception, and how was it addressed or debunked? Regards Telkom University