In the backdrop of recent IT raids against people allegedly linked to Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, a video viral on social media claims that it represents the raids. “मध्यप्रदेश में कमलनाथ के सचिव के यहाँ से बरामद नोटों का ढेर। जिसे छापा पड़ने के बाद जलाने की भी कोशिश की गयीं। India is a rich country but people are poor (The piles of cash recovered from the house of Kamal Nath’s secretary, which were tried to be burnt after the raid. India is a rich country but people are poor),” is a caption affixed to the video that shows piles of half-burnt cash staked together. The video tweeted by Chowkidar Rohini (@RohiniShah73), who is followed by PM Modi, received over 2,000 and nearly 30,000 views (archive).

The video is circulated on Facebook alike, with claims suggesting it shows the cash recovered from Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s secretary. From the account of a user Kanak Mishra, it received over 63,000 views (archive).

Posted by कनक मिश्र on Monday, 8 April 2019

Video represents an art installation

If one carefully watches the video, it is quite clear that the currency notes are not the Indian Rupee, but the Euro.

Alt News had earlier debunked this video when it was circulated in the names of Tamil Nadu MLA SP Velumani, Karnataka Congress minister DK Shivakumar and BJP MP Rajeev Chandrashekhar.

The clip actually represents a 2018 art installation in Spain. The notes were hand-painted by Spanish artist, Alejandro Monge, who uploaded the same video on his Instagram account, calling out the false claims ascribed to his artwork.

The caption of his post, written in Spanish, says, “It’s one of the things about the internet that something can go viral without knowing why it does… and then nobody knows what it is or who it is from. If people knew what sculpture is and knew the tickets are painted by hand… @monge-art share!!”

The income tax department did carry out raids against alleged close aides of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath. However, this video has nothing to do with the recent raids and has, in the past, been pinned to several leaders across political parties.

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About the Author

Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News.