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Kanpur, Nov 28: Stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane and his temporary deputy Cheteshwar Pujara's saga of failures continued as India were put on the mat by New Zealand bowlers, primarily Tim Southee, reducing the hosts to 84 for five at lunch on the fourth day of the opening Test here on Sunday.

First innings centurion Shreyas Iyer (18 not out off 51 balls) and the experienced Ravichandran Ashwin (20 not out off 35 balls) were trying to stem the rot as India's overall lead extended to 133. They have so far added 33 runs for the sixth wicket.

While the pitch is still not an unplayable one, India's spinners might be able to defend anything in the range of 180 as it is expected that a lot of balls will keep low even if there won't be much turn on offer.

However on the fourth morning, Southee, a practitioner of conventional swing bowling, took a master-class on how to bowl on an unresponsive Indian track classically setting up batters.

But before Southee got into the act, Kyle Jamieson (8-3-21-2) targeted Cheteshwar Pujara's (22 off 33 balls) ribcage, getting one to rear up on this dead track and it brushed India no 3's gloves into the hands of keeper Tom Blundell.

Rahane (4 off 15 balls) is out of form and the world knew that. The best way to create pressure was to cut down on singles and for 13 balls, he struggled to get a run.

Then a gorgeous inside out cover drive off Ajaz Patel (9-2-29-1) seemed like helping him break the shackles.

However Patel, who has looked way below Test class, produced his best delivery of the match. An arm ball that was fired in with the angle caught Rahane plumb in-front trying to play a forward defensive prod.

Mayank Agarwal (17) did all the hardwork in the first hour but then Southee (10-2-27-2) set him up with deliveries that came into him from good length spot as he played with a closed bat-face.

Then he pitched on on the same spot only to Agarwal's horror, it shaped slightly away and he had committed to a closed bat face. The result was a regulation catch to Tom Latham in the second slip.

For Ravindra Jadeja (0), Southee used width of the crease with an angular delivery that wrapped him on the pads.

At 51 for five, Ashwin joined Iyer and played some attacking strokes including a straight drive off Southee to calm the tense dressing room.

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Claim: Viral video shows celebrities from all around the world taking a dip in the holy water at Mahakumbh Mela.

Fact: The viral video is AI generated, these celebrities have not visited Mahakumbh Mela.

The Maha Kumbh Mela is a major Hindu festival held every 12 years at Prayagraj, India. It began on January 13, 2025, and will continue till February 26, 2025. This event is expected to attract around 40 crore visitors, making it the world's largest religious gathering. The festival's origins are rooted in Hindu mythology, symbolising the victory of gods over demons. Devotees believe that bathing at the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna, and mythical Saraswati rivers cleanses sins and leads to salvation.

To accommodate the massive inflow of pilgrims, the authorities have established a temporary city spanning 4,000 hectares. This includes 150,000 tents, enhanced sanitation facilities, and improved transportation services. Security measures involve deploying 40,000 police officers and surveillance systems to ensure safety. Many foreign enthusiasts from countries like Brazil, Germany, South Africa are visiting the Mahakumbh Mela. Philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, the billionaire widow of Steve Jobs, co-founder and former CEO of Apple also visited the Kumbh Mela and received spiritual initiation from her guru and head seer of Panchayati Akhada Shri Niranjani Swami Kailasanand Giri.

Meanwhile, a video showing many celebrities like Elon Musk, Putin, USA President Donald Trump, football players Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, actors Will Smith, John Cena, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others and taking a dip in the holy water at the Maha Kumbh Mela. We can see the celebrities taking the holy dip with other devotees in the background. The video is in circulation with the captions like ‘Is elon musk in Kumbh mela 2025?’

Others shared it with caption ‘Haters will say its edited’

Here is the archived link of the claim.

Fact Check:

The claim is False. The video is an AI generated.

When we extracted the keyframes from the viral video, and searched using Google reverse image search, we found that the video was shared by several social media users with the captions like “Elon Musk, Putin, Donald Trump and Other Celebs at Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 - AI Version *Wait For End* #MahaKumbh2025 #MahaKumbhMela2025”

Some users shared the video with captions “और बनाओ AI…. भारत वाले हैं, तुम्हारा ही कबाड़ कर देंगे”. When translated it states “Make more AI…. They are Indians, they will destroy you”

 

When we used Deepfake detector by Invid tool to check whether the video is an AI generated one, it detected the video to be having moderate evidence of being AI generated. Most of the faces in the video were found to be AI-generated. When checked the faces in the video, we found that the faces of Indian PM Modi, US president Trump and Russian President Putin to be more than 90% deepfake.

 
 

According to an article publsihed in Hindustan Times, an AI video of international celebrities at the Mahakumbh Mela is creating waves online. The AI video shows top athletes like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi taking a dip in the Sangam, which is the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers.

World leaders like Donald Trump, Rishi Sunak, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin were seen in the AI video. The use of generative AI also brought Hollywood stars like Will Smith, Zendaya and Tom Holland to Mahakumbh. Meanwhile, the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, was seen taking a dip in the Sangam in the AI video. The video was shared on the Instagram page ‘Artificial Budhi’ and has gone viral with 5.7 million views in a matter of a few days. People in the comments section praised how realistic it looked, but also raised concerns about ethicality.

Hence, the viral video is not an original video, it is AI generated. The claim that several celebrities from various countries are seen taking holy dip in the Sangam at the Mahakumbh Mela is False.

(This story was originally published by telugupost.com, and republished by english.varthabharati.in as part of the Shakti Collective)

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