A 20-second video, which shows a helicopter showering flowers over a crowd, is being shared with a claim that this happened in Uttar Pradesh on the occasion of Hindu New Year, which was celebrated on 2 April.
The claim goes on to credit Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for the feat.
But we could trace the video back to at least 2018 and found that it was from Ranchi, Jharkhand.
CLAIM
Sharing the video, one user wrote, "बुलडोजर वाले बाबा जी के राज में "हिन्दु नववर्ष और नवरात्र पर्व" के शुभअवसर पर सनातनियों के ऊपर पुष्पों की वर्षा की अध्भुत दृष्य....एक गहलोत सरकार "
(Translation: On the auspicious occasion of 'Hindu New Year and Navratri festival', a wonderful scene of showering of flowers on the followers of Hinduism took place under Yogi Adityanath's rule... and on the other hand is Gehlot government.)
An archive of this post can be seen here.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We fragmented the video into multiple keyframes using the InVid Google Chrome extension and then conducted a reverse image search on them.
This led us to a video posted on YouTube on 13 April 2019. The title read, "Ramnavami 2019 Ranchi". (An archived version can be seen here)
This version is 10 seconds longer than the clip that is being used in the viral post.
On closely observing the video, we noticed a hoarding on the top-right side where the word “Ranchi” could be seen. We also noticed Bank of India's board just below it.
The word "Ranchi" written on the hoarding with BOI board below it.
(Source : Altered by The Quint)
A further search directed us to a 2018 Facebook post which carried a similar video showing the chopper.
It mentioned the location to be Firayalal Chowk, Ranchi.
2018 post about Firayalal Chowk, Ranchi.
(Source : Altered by The Quint)
We took a clue from the caption of the post and searched for Firayalal Chowk (also known as Albert Ekka Chowk) Ranchi on Google Maps.
On comparing the image available on Google Maps with the viral video, we could notice several similarities like the Bank of India building beneath the hoarding, the buildings on the left.
Comparison between Albert Ekka Chowk's image from Google and a screenshot from the viral video.
(Source : Altered by The Quint)
VIDEO COULD BE TRACED BACK TO 2018
We found another YouTube video of Ram Navami celebrations in Ranchi which was uploaded on the 25 March 2018.
This video showed the celebrations that took place, including the chopper showering flower petals. The relevant part can be seen around the 2 minute mark.
Evidently, an old video from Ranchi is being shared to claim that it shows Hindu New Year celebrations in Uttar Pradesh.
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