India TV Fact Check: A video is going viral on social media, claiming to be from the World Cup final match between India and Australia, where 1.5 lakh people recited the Hanuman Chalisa together at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The visuals show Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium with the entire stadium appearing full of spectators. However, upon a fact-check by India TV, it has been revealed that this viral video is entirely edited, with its audio overlaid from a different video.
What is going viral?
An X account, which is a verified account of the national weekly magazine Panchjanya (@epanchjanya), shared this video on November 19, 2023. The video has been viewed by more than 3 lakh people, and approximately 8,000 people have liked it. The caption with the video reads, "Recitation of Hanuman Chalisa during the final match at the Narendra Modi Stadium."
The text inside the video reads - "1.5 lakh people singing Hanuman Chalisa." On listening to this 21-second video, the crowd in the stadium is visible, and from behind, the sound of people reciting Hanuman Chalisa is also audible.
India TV did fact check
When we carefully observed the video, it had "Ahmedabad" written on a stand. This confirmed that the video was indeed from Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium. However, as the camera moved away from the spectators towards the field in the video, players in green jerseys were seen. This indicated that the match was not the final clash between Australia and India. Upon searching on Google, it was found that on October 14, 2023, a match between India and Pakistan took place in Narendra Modi Stadium. So, it is confirmed that the scenes in the viral video are from the match between India and Pakistan, not the final between India and Australia.
Now that we know the viral video is from the India-Pakistan match, not the World Cup final, the next step was to verify whether the claim about Hanuman Chalisa is accurate. We searched directly on Google using keywords but couldn't find relevant information. Then, we went to YouTube and searched with the keywords 'crowd hanuman chalisa,' and the same viral video appeared along with another video. When we played it, we found that this video also had the same audio as the viral video.
This YouTube short video was uploaded on the channel @jaipurwaley, and its description mentioned, "Recitation of Hanuman Chalisa in Jaipur." The video was uploaded on June 3, 2023. Therefore, it is clear that the viral video is an edited version, taking the audio from another video uploaded five months earlier, and the content has been misrepresented.
What came out in fact check?
India TV's investigation has revealed that the viral video does not pertain to the World Cup final but rather to the India-Pakistan match at Narendra Modi Stadium on October 14. The audio of the mass Hanuman Chalisa recitation in Jaipur in June has been edited into this video.
