CLAIM
A series of videos and images are being circulated on social media with the message, “Don’t drink any cool drinks it has (been) mixed with HTC poison which leads to death.”
TRUE OR FALSE?
The claim is false. The videos and images are of separate incidents and do not prove the presence of poison in the cold drinks.
Also, there’s no such thing as HTC poison.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
The first video in the viral message shows two injured women with blood on their faces. The video was also shared on YouTube, with the same message.
Warning: The following video has graphic content. Viewers discretion advised.
However, the video is actually from 2018 and from Telangana’s Hyderabad. A Telangana cop beat up his wife and mother-in-law after he was caught having an affair with another woman. The Quint had earlier debunked the video, when it was wrongly shared as Indian Hindus beating up Muslims.
The series of images in another video with the same claim are also of separate incidents.
A reverse image search of these images led us to an article by a Pakistani content site, MangoBaaz, posted on 26 September 2015. The article states that fake Coca-Cola factories have been discovered in cities like Gujranwala. Several Pakistani blogs also reported on the incident.
Additional District Collector Gujranwala Rafaqat Ali Niswana, along with District Food Authority, found several dangerous chemicals, food colours and flavours at the factory to manufacture different cold drinks like Coke, Sprite and Dew.
The third image in the viral video is of an incident that took place in Uttar Pradesh last year.
A reverse search of this third image led us to an article by a Hindi news site, Antim Vikalp, which reported that a Tata Magic van collided into a parked truck in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri area on 28 April, 2018.
The Indian Express also reported on the incident. According to PTI, the accident took place on National Highway 24 at around 6 am, killing at least 12 people.
Further, a Google search of HTC reveals that there’s no such poison. In fact, HTC is used to refer to Hydrothermal Carbonisation, a chemical process used in coal production.
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