Image of ‘Newly Constructed’ Chowk is From Vadodara, Not Ayodhya

The viral photo shows a sculpture with a mace, bow and arrow at the Gada circle in Vadodara, Gujarat.

We found that the image is of a structure present at ‘Gada chowk’ in Vadodara, Gujarat.

(Photo: The Quint)

An image showing a structure with a silver mace, bow and arrow at a street crossing has gone viral as a ‘newly constructed chowk’ in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya. However, we found that the image is of a structure present at Gada circle in Vadodara, Gujarat.

CLAIM

A caption shared with the viral photo reads, in Hindi: “अयोध्या में निर्मित दिव्य चौराह -अब बोलो जय श्री राम” (Translation: A holy street crossing in Ayodhya – Now say Jai Shree Ram.)

The image was massively shared on both Facebook and Twitter.

A link to the search results can be found here.

An archive of the post can be found here.

An archive of the post can be found here.

An archive of the post can be found here.

We found that the image was also shared earlier in the year, in June.

An archive of the post can be found here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We conducted a reverse image search of the image and while going through the search results, we found a similar image posted on 15 April 2016 on an Instagram page called 'Barodamirror'. The caption of the photo said, “New circle at Harni Bhidbhajan circle”.

An archive of the post can be found here.

We looked up the circle on Google maps and saw the structure on a Google Street View image from November 2016.

A link to the Google Street View image can be found here.

We got in touch with a local reporter from Ayodhya who confirmed to us that no such structure has been built on any chowk in Ayodhya.

Evidently, the image of a structure at a chowk in Vadodara was shared with a false claim that it was a newly built chowk in Ayodhya.

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