False claims of attack on Hyderabad Bhagyalakshmi temple viral

by Abhishek Kumar

A video from Hyderabad’s Charminar area has gone viral on social media. The footage shows a chaos with police resorting to lathi-charge on a group of people and setting up barricades. This video is being circulated with the claim that the Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi rally turned violent, and the crowd attempted to attack the Bhagyalakshmi Temple by pushing through police barricades.

Abhishek Agarwal shared the video on social media, presenting it with a communal narrative and describing it as an attack on the Bhagyalakshmi Temple. (Archived link)

Another account, Tathvam-asi, shared the same video, adding a caste-based slur, questioning if ‘mlecha’ (a derogatory term) people were trying to destroy the Bhagyalakshmi Temple. (Archived link)

Neelam Bhargava Ram, a lawyer associated with the BJP’s legal cell, also shared the video of the police lathi-charge alongside another clip showing a fire near Charminar. Ram urged Union home minister Amit Shah to protect the Bhagyalakshmi Mata Temple and questioned the Hyderabad police regarding the details of the Milad-un-Nabi rally. (Archived link)

Fact Check

Upon investigating the viral videos, we came across a tweet by Sahara Samay journalist Surya Reddy. This tweet included four videos from the vicinity of Hyderabad’s Charminar. Surya clarified that during the Milad-un-Nabi procession near Charminar, a generator attached to a DJ sound system caught fire. The fire brigade responded promptly and extinguished the flames. In the footage, it is evident that the vehicle carrying the DJ system was the one ablaze, not a temple or any other structure.

Further, we discovered a video uploaded on the Bhagyalakshmi Temple’s official YouTube channel at around 10 pm on September 19. In the recording, the individual documenting the scene can be heard clearly stating, “Everything is fine here, there is no cause for concern.“

Hyderabad Police commissioner C V Anand issued a statement regarding the incident. He explained that the fire had indeed started from the DJ equipment, and if it had reached the diesel tank, it could have led to a major explosion. To ensure public safety, the police erected barricades to keep the crowd at a distance. However, when some individuals tried to break through the barricades, the police used force to control the situation.

In a related article by Newsmeter, Bhagya Lakshmi Temple trustee Sasikala provided a statement confirming that there was no intrusion into the temple grounds due to the Milad-un-Nabi procession. She also assured that the fire from the DJ generator did not spread to the temple premises.

To sum it up, chaotic scenes following a fire in a DJ generator at the Milad-un-Nabi rally were misrepresented with a communal slant, falsely claiming an attack on the Bhagyalakshmi Temple. 

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About the Author

Abhishek is a senior fact-checking journalist and researcher at Alt News. He has a keen interest in information verification and technology. He is always eager to learn new skills, explore new OSINT tools and techniques. Prior to joining Alt News, he worked in the field of content development and analysis with a major focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO).