Fact Check: Fake Videos Go Viral As Air India Survivor Arrested

Claim

Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the lone survivor of Air India 171 flight that crashed soon after take-off in Ahmedabad, has been arrested for falsely claiming to be onboard the plane.

Archived versions of the TikTok videos can be seen here and here.

Fact

We ran a keyword search on Google for “Vishwash Kumar Ramesh” and “arrested.” However, the search didn’t yield any reliable reports about the arrest of the lone survivor of the Ahmedabad Air India crash for lying about being onboard the ill-fated flight.

The search results for Vishwash Kumar Ramesh threw up several major international media reports about his discharge from the hospital (see here, & here) and his attending the funeral of his brother Ajay, who was seated beside him on the Air India Ahmedabad-London Gatwick flight on June 12.

A NDTV news article reported that Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of the devastating Air India plane crash, faced an agonising moment on Wednesday (June 18) as he led the funeral procession of his brother, Ajay, in their hometown in Diu.

We then checked the official X handles of the Director General Police Gujarat, and Ahmedabad Police. But we did not find any information about the alleged arrest of Vishwas.

Newschecker then reached out to Jaipal Singh Rathore, Additional Commissioner of Police, Sector-2, Ahmedabad City, who clarified that Ramesh has not been arrested in any case, further confirming that the viral claim is fabricated.

Lone Survivor of Air India Crash
Viswash Kumar Ramesh, 40-year-old Briton, walked away from the wreckage of the ill-fated Air India 171 after it crashed less than a minute after takeoff from Ahmedabad to London on June 12, killing 241 other passengers and crew and dozens more on the ground. According to media reports, he was returning to the UK, along with his brother Ajay Kumar Ramesh, after visiting his family in India for a few days.

 “I can’t believe how I came out of it alive. For a moment, I felt like I was going to die too but when I opened my eyes and looked around, I realised I was alive. I still can’t believe how I survived,” Ramesh told the media. “I managed to unbuckle myself, used my leg to push through that opening, and crawled out. I don’t know how I survived,” he said. “I saw people dying in front of my eyes – the air hostesses, and two people I saw near me … I walked out of the rubble.”

Screengrab from the guardian

Our findings clearly showed that no credible authority has arrested the sole survivor of the Ahmedabad plane crash. Thus, the viral claim was found to be fabricated.

Sources
X Profile Of DGP Gujarat, & Ahmedabad Police
Telephonic Conversation With Jaipal Singh Rathore, Additional Commissioner of Police, Ahmedabad City On June 16, 2025

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