West Bengal Police debunk viral border video as Kali immersion, not border exodus

Kolkata: Amid claims that Bangladeshi nationals were leaving Bengal in large numbers following the SIR order, the state police on Tuesday debunked a viral video circulating on social media, clarifying that it actually showed a Kali idol immersion ceremony near the India-Bangladesh border in Nadia district.

On Tuesday evening, the police posted the video on their official social media page along with screenshots of two posts, including one from a handle named Military Observer. The post had claimed that a large number of Bangladeshi nationals were crossing back into Bangladesh after the SIR announcement in West Bengal.

After the post came to their notice, police initiated a fact-checking process. They found that the video was not related to any cross-border movement but was of a crowd gathered for the immersion of Goddess Kali in the Mathabhanga river near the border fencing in Nadia.

Once the verification was complete, the state police publicly marked the Military Observer post as fake. They also shared the original post uploaded by a local resident of Phunkotola, marked as real, which clearly stated that the gathering was for an idol immersion.

Sharing both screenshots, the police wrote: “A video/pic of immersion of Idol/Image of goddess Shyama/Kali of Village-Phunkotala (located near Bangladesh Border), PS-Murutia, District-Nadia, West Bengal in Mathabhanga river is being circulated as illegal immigrants leaving the state en masse due to SIR. This is FAKE and FALSE. Please do not share such fake video/image and inciteful messages.”