India TV Fact Check: After the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, a surprisingly large number of devotees have been flocking to the sacred temple to receive blessings. On the first day around 5 lakh people lined up to seek the blessings of Lord Ram. Meanwhile, a video is going around on social media, showing a hefty of money in a donation box and claiming that it has been donated by the devotees in Ayodhya's Ram Temple. When the India TV Fact Check team verified this video, they came to know that it was not from Ayodhya but from a temple in Rajasthan.
What is the viral claim?
A user (@ravindraarya178) shared the video on a social media platform. The caption reads, "So much amount was donated in the donation box on the first day that the donation box was filled within half a day. Donation of Rs 3.17 crore in the first two days in Ram temple Ayodhya." In this video, it is seen that some temple employees and priests are opening and emptying a big donation box. There is so much amount in the box that the temple authorities require the help of several people to empty it.
A screenshot of the video going around on social media.A
This is not the only video that has been going viral. Several similar videos are circulating on social media. A user named ayodhyacity_u.p_42 has shared this video with the caption, "Money donated to Ram temple."
India TV did fact check
The first step in verifying the video was extracting some keyframes and reverse-searching them on Google. This led to a Facebook post from the account of 'Shri Savaliya Seth Akhil Bharatiya Seva Sangh.' Several videos had been uploaded on this page on 7 August 2021. On one of the posts, the caption read, "Seth's Seth Saawariya Seth Ji Ki Jai Ho, take darshan of Bhandara's fourteen opened treasure of my Seth... Jai Thakur Ji Seth Ka Seth Saawariya Seth Ji Ki Jai Ho"
On examination of all the videos, it was clear that the donation box seen in the viral video is the same one seen here. Apart from this, the temple premises are also the same and this donation box is also filled with notes in the same way. With this, it started getting clear that the viral video is of Sanwaliya Seth Temple located in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan.
To reconfirm that the video belonged to the temple in Rajasthan, our team looked for videos of Sanwaliya Seth Temple on Google with the use of keywords. Our team came across the same viral video uploaded on an Instagram page (sanwaliya_seth_1007) on January 16. The caption with this video read, "Shri Sanwaliya Seth: - This time a record amount of Rs 12 crore 69 lakh cash donations came out." It is also worth noting that this video was shot on January 16, i.e. 6 days after the consecration of life in the Ram temple of Ayodhya. This indicates that the claim made with the viral video is completely wrong.
What came out in the investigation?
After investigating the viral video, it became clear that this video is of Sanwaliya Seth Temple located in Chittorgarh and not of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
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