Old video of wads of currency notes falsely viral ahead of Maharashtra polls

A 15-second clip showing bundles of currency notes is viral on social media with the claim that leaders of the ruling coalition in Maharashtra were given Rs 25 crores each and one of the vehicles carrying the money was  caught.

Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar faction) MLA Rohit Pawar tweeted the above-mentioned clip on October 22 with a caption in Marathi that can be translated as: “There is talk that the ruling party candidates have been given ₹25 crore each as the first installment for the election, and yesterday one of these vehicles was caught in the #Dongar_Zhadi area of Khed-Shivapur. One vehicle was found, but where are the other four? In the Lok Sabha elections too, the ruling party tried to buy the people of Maharashtra by pouring money like water, but the proud people here showed the Mahayuti (Grand Alliance) the way out, like the Katraj Ghat. For the Assembly elections as well, though the Mahayuti plans to play their games at night with money earned through brokerage, the people of Maharashtra will definitely send these traitorous, corrupt individuals home for good, to witness the hills and valleys. Because the ruling party must remember: ‘This is Maharashtra, not Gujarat.’” The tweet has received over 2.56 Lakh views and has been retweeted over 700 times. (Archive)

सत्ताधारी पक्षाच्या उमेदवारांना निवडणुकीसाठी पहिली इंस्टॉलमेंट म्हणून 25- 25 कोटी दिले गेले असल्याची चर्चा असून काल यातलीच एक गाडी खेड-शिवापूर च्या #डोंगार_झाडीमध्ये पकडली गेली. एक गाडी सापडली पण अजून चार गाड्या कुठे आहेत?

लोकसभेलाही सत्ताधाऱ्यांनी पाण्यासारखा पैसा ओतून… pic.twitter.com/B9Z4gbqRk7

— Rohit Pawar (@RRPSpeaks) October 22, 2024

News outlet News 24 (@news24tvchannel) shared the same video on X with the same claim as made by the NCP leader in the above tweet. However, they later deleted their post. (Archive)

Fact Check

After breaking down the clip into several key frames we ran a reverse image search on a few of them. This led us to an Instagram post from December 15, 2023, which carried the now viral clip. This shows that the video is not recent.

We discovered that the viral clip has resurfaced on social media multiple times over the past few years. The earliest instance we could trace dates back to 2021.

We also came across a news report by the Times Of India dated October 23, 2024, which mentioned that an SUV carrying Rs 5 crores had been seized near the Khed-Shivapur toll post. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut and NCP (SCP) MLA Rohit Patil claimed that the cash was being transported to Sangola in Solapur for the purpose of election funding. Pune rural superintendent of police Pankaj Deshmukh said that the car belonged to a contractor who undertook government contracts. The readers should note that the viral video has no connection with this incident.

To sum up, a video that is viral at least since 2021 has resurfaced on social media with users falsely linking it to the upcoming elections in Maharashtra.