An old scripted video of a man adulterating watermelons resurfaces with a false communal angle
A video going viral on social media (here, here, and here) claims to show a Hindu man caught adulterating watermelons with artificial chemicals. The post urges people to “save Muslims’ lives during Ramadan” and warns that a mistake while buying Iftaari could be risky. Let’s verify the claim made in the post through this article.
Claim: Video shows a Hindu man caught adulterating watermelons with artificial chemicals during Ramadan.
Fact: The viral video does not show a real incident and has no communal angle. It is a scripted video shared on a Facebook page called Social Message on 29 April 2024, which includes a disclaimer stating that the video is entirely fictional, with all events scripted for awareness. The man seen in the viral video has also appeared in other scripted videos on the same page. The page’s introduction mentions that the videos are scripted and created purely for awareness and entertainment. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
A reverse image search of the keyframes from the viral video led us to a similar video (archived) posted on the Facebook page ‘Social Message’ on 29 April 2024. At 0:28, a disclaimer states that the video is entirely fictional, with scripted events created for awareness.
Upon reviewing the ‘Social Message’ Facebook page, we found that its intro section states that some videos are scripted and created purely for awareness and entertainment. We also noticed similarly scripted videos on the page. The person seen in the viral video appears in other videos (here and here) published on the same page.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has posted detailed guidelines for detecting adulteration of food materials at home. To detect if Watermelon is adulterated with Erythrosine, FSSAI suggests rubbing a cotton ball on the inner succulent part of the watermelon. If the cotton ball turns red, then the watermelon is adulterated. If there is no colour change, the watermelon is unadulterated and safe to consume.
Factly previously debunked the same video when it went viral in May 2024, falsely claiming that a Muslim man was caught adulterating watermelons.
Factly previously debunked similar claims involving a video by “Social Message” created for awareness and entertainment purposes, which went viral as real incidents (here).
To sum up, the viral video does not show a real incident and has no communal angle. It is a scripted video shared on a Facebook page called Social Message on 29 April 2024
(This story was originally published by factly.in, and republished by english.varthabharati.in as part of the Shakti Collective).
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Fifties by Kohli, Bethel, Shepherd power RCB to 213/5 against CSK
Bengaluru (PTI): Virat Kohli and Jacob Bethel did the early running with well-crafted fifties, while Romario Shepherd applied the finishing touches with a brutal 14-ball unbeaten half-century as Royal Challengers Bengaluru raced to a massive 213 for five against Chennai Super Kings in an IPL match here on Saturday.
The Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni decided to bowl first after winning the toss, but the decision played handsomely into RCB’s hands as Kohli and Bethel merrily chugged along to make 97 runs in just 9.5 overs for the opening wicket.
Kohli (62 off 33 balls) and Bethel (55 off 33) exploited a fuss-free pitch to telling effect, and their job was made much easier by the wrong lines of CSK bowlers, which was evidenced when Shepherd (53 not out off 14 balls; 4x4, 6X6) made the joint second fastest fifty in the IPL.
The fastest fifty of the IPL was struck off just 13 balls by Yashasvi Jaiswal in 2023, while both KL Rahul (in 2018) and Pat Cummins (2022) had also earlier made half centuries off 14 balls.
Khaleel Ahmed, who has the highest number of dot balls in this IPL at 110, tried to test Kohli with snorter but it was pulled thunderously over fine leg for a six.
In the very next ball, the left-arm pacer went for a fuller length delivery but it was on Kohli’s pads as the batter sent the ball soaring over square leg for a maximum, and all he needed was a simple unlocking of his wrist.
Bethel was more brutal. The England left-hander smashed Ahmed for three successive fours in the first over itself, all rasping cuts and forceful drives, as RCB raced out of the traps.
The 21-year-old had a slice of fortune too as Ravindra Jadeja and Matheesha Pathirana collided with each other to spill a catch off pacer Anshul Kamboj.
Bethel was on 27 then, and he soon brought up his maiden IPL fifty with a reverse scoop off Jadeja.
Kohli too reached his fifty soon after with a routine slap through the cover region for a four off Jadeja.
Just as the alliance was blossoming further, Bethel skied Pathirana for Dewald Brevis to complete a fine catch running in from the boundary line.
It gave some respite to the CSK bowlers, who found a way to stem the free flow of runs using cutters and into-the-deck deliveries, particularly Sam Curran (1/34) and Pathirana (3/36).
Curran consumed Kohli with a slow delivery which did not allow the batter to execute a ramp over Ahmed at gully.
But Kohli and Bethel had given RCB a superb platform as the home side were placed at 121 for 2 in the 12th over.
However, the improved lengths of CSK bowlers and a tinge of slowness in the track made RCB settle for 37 runs between overs 12 and 18 as batters like Devdutt Padikkal and skipper Rajat Patidar failed to force the pace.
But Shepherd waded into Ahmed (65 runs in 3 overs), slamming him for four sixes and two fours in the 19th over which yielded 33 runs.
Shepherd and Tim David raised their fifty stand for the sixth wicket in just 14 balls and the latter contributed a princely two runs in that alliance.
