Old unrelated video shared as Gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s funeral procession

The viral video shows the last rites of Indian Sufi scholar Saqlain Miyan in Bareilly in 2023.

Gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari was laid to rest in Ghazipur amid tight security on 30 March. Ansari died in a hospital at Banda, Uttar Pradesh on 28 March. Sea of supporters attended the funeral. Against this backdrop, a video of a large crowd going viral on social media with claims that it showed people gathered in Ghazipur to pay their last respects to Ansari.

The caption states, “Last rites of Mukhtar Ansari sahab, Mukhtar Ansari laid to rest in Kalibagh Kabaristan “.

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Fact Check- 

We started our investigation by watching the video carefully, and then we found a water mark named ‘iSAQLAINI’ is visible written in the video. Using this keyword we searched more and found a similar video uploaded on an Instagram handle ‘isaqlaini690’. The video was shared on 19 January and its caption mentioned ‘Hazrat Peero Murshid Shah Saqlain Miyan Huzoor’.

So we can confirm that this viral video predates the funeral of Mukhtar Ansari so it is not related to it.

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Similar scenes can be seen in another YouTube video as well.

Upon further search, we found a report published in Amar Ujala mentioned that thousands of devotees from Kakrala and Badaun, among other cities, gathered to pay their last respects to Hazrat Saqlain Miyan in October 2023.As per the report, “Mohammed Saqlain Mian, the head of the Dargah of Hazrat Shah Sharafat Mian, passed away on 20 October, 2023. He was 70 years old. As soon as the news of his demise was received, a wave of grief ran among his fans in the country and abroad”. The procession took place in the grounds of Islamia Inter College.

Conclusion- 

Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video to be False. This video is not recent; it shows the last rites of Indian Sufi scholar Saqlain Miyan in Bareilly in 2023.