A viral video is circling the internet which shows men wearing Islamic caps filling money inside plastic bags at what looks like a mosque.
What are the claims?: One of the claim states that the money collected at mosques is tax-free. Further, it says that this money is used to spread conversion, terrorism, and 'love jihad' - a conspiracy theory popularised by the Indian right-wing.
It also mentions that the Congress party has given the community protection since 70 years by not taxing religious institutions, unlike temples.
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
What is the truth?: The claim is misleading and it is being shared with a false communal angle.
While the video is indeed from a mosque, it is of the Pagla Mosjid (masjid) in Kishoreganj in Bangladesh, and not from Shirdi Sai Temple or any other Indian state.
It shows the donation boxes at the masjid that are opened every three months for counting.
Deputy CEO of the Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust also refuted the viral claims.
How did we find out?: We used Google Lens' translation feature that highlighted the text written on the plastic bags. It indicated that the text was in Bengali.
The text, when translated to English, read "In coal, Broiler and BG."
By putting in keywords on Google such as "Bangla, mosque and money", we found a Daily Star report published on 7 May.
The report pointed us to the location of the viral video, which was Pagla Mosjid, Kishoreganj, in Bangladesh.
The report also carried a video where we found similar keyframes as seen in the viral video.
(Swipe right to view all the comparisons.)
On comparing the frames, we found some similarities in both the videos.
(Source: Daily Star/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)
Other sources: Using the same keywords, we found another news report published on 7 January by The Business Standard.
This report stated that the donation boxes are opened every three months to count the money collected as donations.
It also stated that the money is used for the development work of other mosques, madrasas, and social work.
The report mentioned that TK4.18 cr was found in the Pagla mosque's donation boxes.
(Source: The Business Standard/Screenshot)
Speaking to The Quint, Habiba Naznin, a staff reporter at Channel I from Bangladesh, said, "The counting of the donation boxes at Pagla Mosjid in Kishoreganj happens every three months."
We also came across a YouTube video posted on 6 May by a Bangladshi news channel Somoy TV with the same visuals as the viral video.
The title of the video, when translated from Bengali to English using Google translate read, "The donation box of Kishoreganj Pagla Mosque was opened again."
We reached out to Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust, Shirdi: Rahul Jadhav, Deputy CEO of the Trust, dismissed the claims and said that no donation has been given by Shirdi Sai Trust to any other religious place.
He also added that no other religious place demanded money from Shirdi Sai Trust.
"Most of the money donated to the Trust by the devotees is spent on our hospital, education and day-to-day work of the Trust. If we choose to give money from the Trust to someone else, then we have to take permission from the government. Along with this, the complete details of where we spent the funds are included in the institute's annual report, which is in the public domain," Jadhav added.
Conclusion: While we could independently verify the date of the viral video, it is clear that the viral video is unrelated to India.
(Note: The story has been updated to add another claim. With inputs from Siddharth Sarathe.)
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