Did Balen Shah Post a Photo of Former Prince Hirdayendra Shah On His Social Media? No, Viral Post Is Made Up

Claim
Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) mayor Balendra Shah posted a photo of former prince Hirdayendra Shah on social media.
Fact
No, the viral post is fabricated.

A video allegedly carrying a screen-grab of a social media post by Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) Mayor Balendra Shah ‘Balen’ is going viral on TikTok.

The video goes viral on the heels of a stir created in social media by a vlog released by former Prince Hirdayendra Shah covering his recent visit to Jumla.

Against this backdrop, TikTik user @saru20506 posted a video carrying a purported social media post of Kathmandu Metropolitan City mayor Balen Shah. Shah’s post carried a photo of former prince Hirdayendra Shah, grandson of deposed King Gyanendra Shah and son of former crown prince Paras Shah. The alleged Facebook post of Balen Shah reads, “The present is frowning after the son born into a so-called feudal family has started becoming the heartthrob. What is happening with those who fear interaction with people, are they still occupying the chairs or have they gone haywire?”

The video posted on August 2 has garnered 10.4k likes, 170 users have shared it and 388 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 veracity of the claim, Newschecker looked up the verified Facebook page of Balen Shah, which resembled the handle of Balen Shah carried in the viral video. However, we couldn’t find anything posted on Shah’s Facebook page since July 2.

We then checked another Facebook page of Shah, which is updated more often with various developments.

We also checked the X (formerly twitter) handle of Balen Shah but didn’t find any post or photos concerning the former royal family.

However, we could not find any credible reports or social media posts confirming that mayor Shah has expressed his support to the monarchy or the former royal family members.

Further, we compared the purported post of mayor Shah with a post from his verified Facebook account that resembled his profile picture. On comparing the post, we found that the three dots on the top right corner of the post are missing, and the comments don’t appear on any Facebook post like the way it is depicted on the viral post.  

Thus, our findings clearly indicate that Balen’s Shah’s purported social media post is fabricated.

Conclusion

No, mayor Balen Shah has not posted a photo of former prince Hirdayendra Shah and has not written about the recent buzz created by the vlog posted by Hirdayendra Shah. Thus, the viral claim is fabricated.

Result: Altered Photo

Sources
Balen Shah /Facebook
Balen Shah/Facebook
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