Old footage of a waterlogged street in Haryana passed off as video from Delhi

By: Annet Preethi Furtado
July 12 2023

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Context

As record-breaking rain lashed northwest India, including Delhi, several areas in the national capital, such as Connaught Place, Majnu ka Tila, and Lutyens, experienced severe waterlogging. Many residents took to social media to criticize the authorities for alleged mismanagement. Amid this, a video allegedly capturing the flooded streets of Delhi is going viral online.

In the brief 30-second video, a woman is seen walking through waist-deep water while engaged in a phone conversation, and four men collectively push a white SUV through a waterlogged road with water rising to their hips. Then, a grinning man approaches the person shooting the video and walks away. A flyover is visible in the background when the camera pans to show more of the scene. As various people struggle to wade through the water, an audio of a statement from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal runs in the background. In the audio he makes a statement claiming water availability in the city rising from 58 to 93 percent and how that highlights the successful implementation of water distribution schemes across all parts of Delhi in the last five years. Taking a dig at Kejriwal, one Twitter user shared the video with the caption: "Today @ArvindKejriwal Feeling extremely proud!!!!!," while another Twitter user captioned it, "#delhi and rain are not compatible."

However, the viral video was not filmed in Delhi.

In Fact

On conducting a reverse image search on a keyframe from the video, we found that it was previously uploaded on Twitter and Facebook in June 2022. Posts sharing the video said that it was taken in Rohtak, Haryana. Among these posts, one on Twitter stood out due to its superior visual quality. This tweet claimed the footage was filmed at Huda Complex in Rohtak, Haryana. Neither of these videos carried Kejriwal's audio.

Upon thoroughly reviewing the video, we observed an inscription reading "P-25" on one of the flyover's pillars. Also, two stores — Chopra Electricals and Jio Digital Life Store — were noticeable towards the end of the clip.

A keyword search on Google Maps with all this information enabled us to locate the exact spot, and with the street view feature we unearthed the flooded area where the clip was shot. We then noticed several distinct features that closely resemble scenes from the viral video. For instance, we found that the Jio Digital Life Store is positioned on the right side of Chopra Electricals, aligning with the visual details in the viral clip. Additionally, we noticed the text "P-25" on one of the pillars, further reinforcing the connection between the video footage and the identified location. By comparing the content of the viral video with the corresponding area on Google Maps, we concluded that the video was recorded near Huda Complex in Rohtak, Haryana. Several media outlets had reported on waterlogging in Rohtak in June 2022 after the district received heavy rainfall. 

Logically Facts also contacted Chopra Electricals in Rohtak to verify the location of the viral video. Ashish Chopra, its proprietor, confirmed that the video was filmed near the outlet. He informed us that there is currently no waterlogging around Huda Complex and provided us with recent images of the store's surroundings, which exhibited no signs of flooding.

The viral video has incorporated audio of Kejriwal's speech, where he emphasizes the government's measures to enhance the accessibility of water in the city. This appears to have been done to mislead viewers and falsely attribute the video to Delhi.

The Verdict

Though several areas in Delhi experienced waterlogging recently, the viral video does not capture scenes from the capital. The video is old and from Haryana.