Old videos falsely shared as crocodiles spotted in Hyderabad during heavy rains - Alt News
Jignesh Patel
15th October 2020 / 3:28 pm / Last updated: 15th October 2020
A video showing a crocodile in a water-logged residential area being pulled out by a man is doing the rounds on social media with the claim that the incident took place in Hyderabad.
#Hyderabad Crocodile 🐊 Video
At least 13 people killed as heavy rains batter Hyderabad#HyderabadRains #HyderabadFloods #HyderabadRain #hyderabadheavyrains #Hyderabadnow pic.twitter.com/E8ZZ98cTVS
— SwePost (@sweposten) October 14, 2020
The video has also been shared on WhatsApp.
Another video has been shared with similar claims. “Crocodile In Musa Nadi #HyderabadRains #Hyderabad,” the widely circulating text reads.
Crocodile In Musa Nadi #HyderabadRains #Hyderabad pic.twitter.com/YItVcjzHCh
— Mohd Arshad (@Arsh25119) October 14, 2020
Incessant rains in Telangana has taken at least 32 lives. Capital city Hyderabad has been “reeling under severe waterlogging and inundation of some low-lying areas,” reported Deccan Chronicle.
Both videos do not represent incidents that took place recently during Hyderabad rains.
Video 1
The first video was viral last year during Bihar floods with the claim that a crocodile was spotted in Patna. This itself debunks the currently widespread claim.
Crocodile In Patna during Heavy rain .
Crocodile In Patna.
Posted by Shiksha Point on Sunday, 29 September 2019
Listening to the people conversing in the video, Alt News found that the crowd was speaking in Gujarati. We subsequently performed a Google search with relevant keywords and found a video posted by The Times of India on August 4, 2019. The broadcast carried visuals of the rescue operation from a different angle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36nFL6VGeGI&t=4s
A ten-foot-long crocodile was rescued by forest officials from a society in Vadsar, Vadodara, Gujarat. “Due to waterlogging by the ongoing heavy rains, further incidents of crocodiles entering Vadodara’s housing complexes have been recorded. Following last week’s viral video of a crocodile attacking a dog inside Lalbaug’s Rajsthamb society, a team of rescuers captured another reptile at night from the entrance of a house,” reads the caption of the video.
Incidentally, the Telugu vertical of The Times of India, Samayam, published a story on October 14, 2020 claiming that the crocodile was spotted in Hyderabad.
Hyderabad City Police put out an alert on the misinformation.
#Fakevideo pic.twitter.com/0OCjvdbBY4
— Hyderabad City Police (@hydcitypolice) October 14, 2020
Video 2
We found old links of the second video which said that the crocodile was spotted in NTPC-Farakka, Murshidabad, West Bengal. The clip below was uploaded on YouTube in February 2018.
While we could not confirm if the video was indeed shot in West Bengal, it certainly does not show a crocodile spotted in Musa river near Purana Pul in the Old City area of Hyderabad. According to reports, however, after a heavy downpour on September 17, a crocodile was seen resting on the banks of the river. “Soon after the Forest Department officials received information regarding the reptile, they sent a team from the Nehru Zoological Park to capture it. But, by the time they reached, the crocodile had left,” per The New Indian Express.
Two old videos of crocodiles moving through the water were shared with the false claim that they were spotted in water-logged areas of Hyderabad recently.
Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University.
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