Authors
With a penchant for reading, writing and asking questions, Paromita joined the fight to combat and spread awareness about fake news. Fact-checking is about research and asking questions, and that is what she loves to do.
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
Video shows Bangladeshi Hindu priest Chinmoy Krishna Das allegedly attempting to rape a Hindu woman inside a moving vehicle.
Fact
Viral video is of October 2024 rape and blackmail case involving temple priest from Rajasthan who allegedly drugged and raped the survivor.
A 1-minute 37-second video has gone viral with the claim that it allegedly shows prominent Bangladeshi Hindu priest Chinmoy Krishna Das, who was arrested on November 25 for sedition, attempting to rape a Hindu woman in a moving vehicle in Sylhet. “This ‘saviour of Hindus’ proves even local Hindus aren’t safe from ISKCON, a terrorist organisation,” read the X post.
The archived version of the post can be seen here.
Fact Check
Newschecker ran a reverse image search of keyframes, which led us to this Rajasthan Patrika report on Youtube, dated October 21, 2024, sharing the viral video.
“A video of a priest and a girl has been going viral for the past few days in Lakshmangarh area of Sikar. The priest had raped the girl on the pretense of solving her family’s problems through tantra vidya. Police have registered a case and started investigation,” read the description of the video, translated from Hindi.
We then came across this ABPLive report, dated October 19, 2024, stating that a college student has accused the Kshetrapal temple priest, Baba Balaknath, of sexually assaulting her after drugging her. “In her complaint to the police, the victim stated that the priest and his driver threatened to kill her family if she told anyone about the rape… The driver of Baba Balaknath’s car, Yogesh, recorded the rape on video. Later, Baba Balaknath and his associate threatened her regularly, demanding that she continue meeting them. They also threatened to leak the video. Troubled by these threats, the woman finally approached the police to report the incident,” read the report.
An ETV Bharat report, dated October 20, 2024, can be seen here, where the deputy superintendent of police, Ajaypal, said that the viral objectionable video was from April 12 and that the case was registered on October 17. “In her complaint, the woman said that on April 12, 2024, she had come to appear in an examination in a private college in Sikar. When she was standing outside the college after giving the exam, the accused priest ‘Baba Balaknath’ from Laxmangarh came with a car and made her sit in the car on the pretext of dropping her to the village. After getting inside the car, the ‘baba’ gave her a sweet laced with drugs to eat on the way which made her unconscious, the woman said. The baba stopped the car on a deserted road and raped her several times, she said adding the driver of the car made the video of the sexual assault on phone,” read the report. Similar NDTV and HT reports can be seen here and here, confirming that the priest in the video is not Chinmoy Das.
Conclusion
Viral video shows Rajasthani temple priest sexually assaulting a woman in a moving vehicle, not arrested Bangladeshi Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das.
Result: False
Sources
Rajasthan Patrika report, October 21, 2024
ABPLive report,October 19, 2024
ETV Bharat, October 20, 2024
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Authors
With a penchant for reading, writing and asking questions, Paromita joined the fight to combat and spread awareness about fake news. Fact-checking is about research and asking questions, and that is what she loves to do.
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
