This video does not show a man falling into the Aharbal waterfall in Jammu and Kashmir: It’s from Karnataka

The viral video shows a man falling into the Arasinagundi waterfall in Karnataka. 

Heavy to extremely heavy rainfall over the past few weeks led to flood-like situations in various parts of India and caused several waterfalls to overflow with raging torrents. In the wake of this several unverified images, videos, and claims have surfaced on social media. 

Amid this, footage of a man slipping and falling into a waterfall is going viral on social media with the claim that the video is from Kashmir’s Aharbal waterfall and that the man in the video is a resident of Shopian town.

The users who shared the video claimed that this man fell into the Aharbal waterfall. Aharbal is a hill station in the south western part of Kashmir Valley.

Let’s check the truth.

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Fact Check- 

Our investigation began with a reverse image search of key frames from the viral video and which led us to a tweet by ANI which carried the same visuals of the viral video. It states “Karnataka | A 23-year-old man from Bhadravati, Shivamogga district drowned in Arasinagundi Falls after he slipped and fell when he was standing on a rock at the falls on 23rd July”

In further search we came across a report published on NDTV, It states that this incident took place on 23July, when a man slipped and fell into the Arasinagundi waterfalls located around 6 km away from Kollur village in the Udupi district of Karnataka. The victim, identified as 23-year-old Sharath Kumar, was from Bhadravathi in the Shivamogga district. He was reportedly filming an Instagram Reel when he lost his balance and fell into the waterfall. The whole incident was captured by his friend who was shooting the video.

Next, we found the same information in a Local Kannada outlet Public TV also

Meanwhile we checked whether any similar incident had recently occurred in Kashmir and discovered local news reports stating that on 24July, a 22-year-old man identified as Tariq Ahmad Sheikh fell into the Aharbal waterfall in Kulgam district and drowned. 

As per the report by The Kashmiriyat that the person was a resident of Mani Hal village located in the Shopian district of south Kashmir. According to a video report uploaded by the outlet on Facebook, Tariq Sheikh’s body was discovered on next day by a rescue team near the waterfall.

Conclusion-  

Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video to be Misleading. Though a man died after falling into the Aharbal waterfall in Kashmir on July 24, the viral video shows a man falling into the Arasinagundi waterfall in Karnataka.