
Bharat Bhushan Tiwari, a 28-year-old social media activist and local resident of Bhojpur district, Bihar, died on 17 June, 2026, during a police encounter. The Bihar government has now ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident, while the police have defended the encounter, claiming it was carried out in self-defence after Tiwari allegedly opened fire during an operation. Following this, a video showing a large crowd at a public event is going viral on social media with the claim that millions of people gathered to attend the final journey of Bharat Tiwari.
Let’s check the truth.
Fact check:
We started our investigation with a reverse image search on Google, and the results led us to a similar video uploaded on an Instagram page on 4 June 2026.This made it clear that the video predates the Bharat Bhushan Tiwari case.
For further confirmation, we contacted the user, who clarified that the incident occurred in Japla, Palamu district, Jharkhand, where residents had gathered near the site of a mining accident that resulted in a young man’s drowning.

Using these hints, we conducted further searches and found several media reports regarding this incident. As per reports, 24-year-old Lavkush Kumar drowned in a deep, water-filled mining pit located in the Damdami mining area, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Hussainabad police station. Following an investigation, the police have registered a case against three individuals, including the mine operator.
A large number of residents gathered at the site, anxiously awaiting updates from the ongoing search and rescue operation.

Moving forward, we also found a video report by News11 Bharat uploaded on YouTube on 3 June. The description states, “A young man drowned in a mine pit, police and NDRF team engaged in search”.
Taking account of all this evidence, it is clear that the viral video shows a mining accident in Palamu, Jharkhand, it does not show people attending Bharat Tiwari’s funeral.
Conclusion
Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video to be Misleading. This is an old video available on the internet prior to the death of Bharat Bhushan Tiwari.


