Fact Check: Claim that Kerala couple refused ambulance with Hanuman sticker is false
A photo of an ambulance with a Hanuman sticker has gone viral with the claim that a Kerala couple died after they refused to get into the ambulance because of the sticker.
By Satya Priya BN Published on 16 May 2021 8:03 AM GMT
Hyderabad: A photo of an ambulance with a Hanuman sticker has gone viral with the claim that a Kerala couple died after they refused to get into the ambulance because of the sticker.
According to social media users who shared the photo, "In a bizarre incident, M Stalin and his wife Jaycee who were gasping for oxygen refused the ambulance when they saw the saffron Rudramukhi Hanuman sticker on the vehicle. According to eyewitnesses, they passed away shaking in indignation."
This claim is going viral on all social media platforms raising communal concerns.
Fact Check:
The claim that a couple from Kerala refused to get into an ambulance with a Hanuman sticker is FALSE. No such incident has been reported anywhere in Kerala.
NewsMeter did a reverse image search and found that the photo was from Bengaluru, Karnataka. It was published in Hindustan Times on 10 May 2021 with the caption, "Family members and undertakers carry the body of a victim who died of the COVID-19 coronavirus at an open-air crematorium set up for the coronavirus victims inside a defunct granite quarry on the outskirts of Bangalore on May 8, 2021, as India recorded more than 4,000 coronavirus deaths in a day for the first time."
The image looks like an inshorts graphic but when checked it can be seen that the format or fonts do not match the inshorts pattern.
Hence, the claim that a couple from Kerala died after they refused to get into an ambulance with a Hanuman sticker is FALSE.
