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 more essential today than ever before.
Claim
Nepali cine artist Laxmi Giri was killed in a road accident at Kalanki.
Fact
No, artist Giri is alive and the viral video is false.
A video claiming that veteran Nepali cine artist Laxmi Giri has passed away is going viral on TikTok.
Giri is a senior Nepali cine artist whose acting career has spanned over 35 years and she worked on stage, television and numerous feature films including the recent blockbuster ‘Chhakka Panja-2’.
TikTok user @salam_x1234 posted a video carrying an image of artist Laxmi Giri. Text superimposed on the video reads, “She has left his world. She died after being hit by a bus at Kalanki in Kathmandu today.”
The video posted on May 6 has garnered 78.7k likes, 1826 users have shared it.
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 a key-frame from the viral video and conducted a reverse search on it. The search led us to a short video, dated May 2, 2024, published on the YouTube channel named Prime Times HD.
On checking the short video from a famous talk show hosted by renowned video journalist Rishi Dhamala, we found that the dress worn by actor Giri exactly matched a frame from the viral video. Taking a clue from the video, we found the full interview of Giri published on May 4, 2024. It demonstrated that it was the most recent media interview Giri.
We, then, ran a search on Google by using relevant key-phrases. However, the search didn’t yield any results resembling the claim made in the viral video. There was no news of Giri’s death in a road accident.
So, we reached out to Nepali film actor and director Deepa Shree Niraula, and asked her about the truth behind the viral video. She confirmed that the viral video is fake and has no truth.
Thus, our findings clearly indicate that the claim is false.
Conclusion
No, Nepali cine artist Laxmi Giri is alive. The viral video claiming that she was killed in a road accident in Kalanki, Kathmandu, is misleading.
Result: False
Sources
Prime Times HD /YouTube, May 5, 2024
Direct phone conversation with actor/director Dipa Shree Niraula
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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 more essential today than ever before.
