A video containing four different clips has been forwarded to our 24X7 Factline number 9049053770 claiming it to be related to child abduction and organ trading.
In the first clip, four masked people can be seen in a forest. There were four children with tied hands and taped mouths, lying unconscious. It looked like someone was making a video secretly and the person behind the camera was saying, “he is taking money for the abducted children”.
The second clip shows a police officer warning people to be vigilant, referring to a gang of kidnappers.
The third clip shows the dismembered body of a child.
The last clip shows a man cutting open the chest of a living person and removing his organs.
However, as we investigated, we came to know that the claim was misleading. The videos are not related to child abduction. Here’s the fact check.
Fact Check
We started our investigation by taking some screenshots from each of the clips in the viral video and conducting a reverse image search.
First clip
Conducting a reverse image search of the screenshots of the clip, we found a Facebook post on 9 July 2022. The full version of the clip was uploaded there. At the timestamp 0:30, there was a text overlay which read, “Please read the video disclaimer carefully. This is not a real incident”. At the timestamp 1:30, there was a disclaimer which read, “The video is a complete fiction, all the events in the video are scripted and made for awareness purposes, it does not promote any kind of activity or defame any kind of ritual. This video has nothing to do with any real incident. Note – This is not a true incident, all the characters/persons shown in the video are playing their roles”.
Facebook Link | Archived Link.
This makes it clear that the video is not real but a scripted one.
Second clip
Here, the police officer says, “If an unknown person comes to your door, do not open the door or interact with him. News has been received from Bargadwa (a locality in Gorakhpur city of Uttar Pradesh state) that 500 people in disguise as beggars are killing people and removing their organs. Among them, 5-6 have been arrested, and they provided this information”.
The clip had the logo of Gorakhpur News on it. We found the original video on the YouTube channel Gorakhpur News, which was uploaded on 25 August 2019. From the timestamp 0:08, the viral video could be seen, and the voice-over of the newsreader could be heard, which was similar to the viral video. The newsreader then mentioned that SP City Dr Kaustab said that the viral message was fake. There were no child kidnapping gangs in the city or any such incidents. He said that fake messages are going viral in the name of Gorakhpur.
Gorakhpur Police tweeted on 7 September 2022 that the viral message was false.
Third clip
The clips show a photo of the dismembered body of a child.
A reverse image search of the screenshot from the third clip led us to a report published in Egnews24 on 17 September 2016. The report mentioned the social media posts claiming it to be a child abduction case. It didn’t mention anything about the incident or location.
Please read here. Archived Link.
The image has been shared in different contexts for a long time. Since the image has been online at least since 2016, we could conclude that this is not a recent incident in Gorakhpur.
Fourth clip
A reverse image search of the screenshot of the last clip led us to a report published on 19 January 2018. According to the report, “A group of cartel gunmen fighting for control of a Mexican coastal state cut out the heart of one of their living victims while another was beheaded. The violence took place not far from the beach resort cities of Acapulco and Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, Guerrero”.
This makes it clear that the claim is misleading. The clips in the viral video are not related to child abduction.
Conclusion
From our investigation, we can say that the claim is misleading. The first clip is a scripted one for awareness purpose, the clip of the police officer warning people to be vigilant is an edited one, the third clip has been online since at least 2016 and the last clip is not from India. The clips are not related to child abduction.
