Fact Check: Muslim man attempts to murder priest in Madhya Pradesh? No, here is the truth
A video showing a man wielding a sword in a temple and threatening a priest is going viral with communal claims.
By K Sherly Sharon
Claim:The video shows a Muslim man in a temple in Sehore, MP, threatening to murder the priest with a sword.
Fact:False. News reports do not mention any communal angle to the altercation and the accused, Mahesh Yadav, was not identified as a Muslim.
Hyderabad: A video showing a man brandishing a sword, engaged in a heated exchange with some men inside what appears to be a temple, is going viral on social media with communal claims.
Sharing the video on Facebook, a user wrote that a man belonging to the Muslim community entered a temple in Madhya Pradesh with a sword and attempted to kill the priest there. The location is stated as the Chintaman Ganesh Temple in Sehore, Madhya Pradesh.
The caption of the post reads, “This is India’s so-called ‘scared and persecuted’ Muslim…Inside the ancient Chintaman Ganesh Temple in Sehore, Madhya Pradesh, a Muslim man entered, wielding a sword and attempted to kill the temple priest. Dr Mohan Yadav remains asleep while Hindu temples and priests are being openly attacked #mp #MPNews #mppolice #MPPolitics #MPCMMohanYadav #socialmedia #hindutemple #Update #india #indian #BJPGovernment” (Translated from Hindi) (Archive)
Posts making similar claims can be seen here, here, here and here. (Archive 1, Archive 2, Archive 3 and Archive 4)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. News reports about the incident do not mention any communal angle to the altercation and the accused, Mahesh Yadav, was not identified as a Muslim.
The aggressor in the viral video has been identified as Mahesh Yadav. Police said there is no communal angle to the incident.
Keyword searches led us to a news report published by Navbharat Times on July 26, 2025.
This report shared an extended version of the viral video. The video here is an uncropped version, showing the complete CCTV camera footage from the temple. It has a 3-minute-long extended version of the 30-second-long viral video clip, along with a second clip which showed the police statement.
The extended and uncropped CCTV footage showed the man entering the temple with a sword wrapped in a paper. He proceeded to sit in a chair and talk to another man. After a few moments, a heated exchange takes place between the man and those in the temple. The aggressor is seen brandishing the sword and even pushing back one of the men.
The police officer in the second clip of the video is seen saying that the priest of the Ganesh temple, Jayanth Vallabh Dubey, submitted a written complaint to the Mandi police station, attaching the CCTV footage. A person identified as Mahesh Yadav was named as the accused and was arrested by the police based on the complaint.
A video showing the same incident from a different angle was published by both Amar Ujala on the news website on July 28, 2025, and India Today on the official Instagram Page on July 27, 2025.
A Hindi News18 article also names Mahesh Yadav as the accused in the incident.
A Dainik Bhaskar report on the incident stated that “He (Yadav) claimed the priest did not return the money. Yadav went to the temple to recover the amount.” The report also stated that in the video, Yadav is heard saying that if he does not receive his money within 24 hours, he will attack again.
None of the reports mention there is a communal angle to the incident or that the accused, Mahesh Yadav, is a Muslim. Therefore, NewsMeter concludes that the viral claim is false.
