Fact Check: Pahalgam terror attack- Viral video does not show last moments of Lt. Vinay Narwal and his wife
A video purportedly depicting the final moments of Lt. Vinay Narwal and his wife before the Pahalgam terror attack has gone viral on social media platforms.
By M Ramesh Naik
Claim:The viral video shows the joyful final moments of Indian Navy officer Lieutenant Vinay Narwal and his wife before he was killed in a terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir.
Fact:False. The video does not show Lt. Vinay Narwal or his wife. It features a different couple, who confirmed to NewsMeter that they are alive and that the footage is unrelated to the terror attack.
Hyderabad, April 24, 2025: Following the tragic killing of Indian Navy officer Lieutenant Vinay Narwal in a terror attack targeting tourists in Pahalgam on April 22, a video has gone viral on social media platforms claiming to show the last moments of Lt. Narwal and his wife.
The video, shared by an Instagram user, was captioned, "Last video of this couple before the death of Naval Officer Lieutenant Vinay Narwal," with the same text overlaid on the footage.(Archive)
Similar posts can be found here, here, and here.(Archive1,Archive2,
Fact Check
NewsMeter investigated the claim and found it to be false. The video does not depict Lieutenant Narwal and his wife but instead features a different couple, who confirmed to Newsmeter that they are alive, and the video is unrelated to the Pahalgam terror attack.
Upon reviewing the comment section of the Instagram post, a user pointed out that the video actually shows a different couple and tagged the Instagram account of one of the individuals in the clip ā Yashika Sharma.
Further verification led to a clarification video posted by Ashish Sehrawat and Yashika Sharma on their respective accounts.(Archive)
In the video, the couple confirmed that the viral footage was of them and not of Lieutenant Narwal and his wife. They expressed condolences to the bereaved family and clarified they had no idea how their personal video was misused. They also urged viewers to report the misleading posts.
Ashish Sehrawat, a railway employee, told NewsMeter that the video in question was recorded during a vacation to Jammu and Kashmir between April 11 and 15. The couple visited Srinagar, Sonmarg, Gulmarg, and Pahalgam during their trip.
āAfter the Pahalgam attack, many people began calling us to check if we were safe. Thatās when we realised our video was being misused online,ā he said. In response, the couple posted a clarification video to inform viewers that they were alive and had no connection to the tragic incident.
Sehrawat added that while they were deeply saddened by the terror attack, the widespread sharing of their video under false pretenses led to a flood of hateful messages and comments. āWe received so much negativity that we eventually deleted the original video,ā he said. āBut by then, it had already spread everywhere.ā
Key Findings:
Visual mismatch: The woman in the viral video is seen wearing a dress that does not match what Lieutenant Narwalās wife wore on the day of the attack, further disproving the claim.
Timeline mismatch: The couple confirmed the video was from a trip they took to Jammu and Kashmir between April 11 and April 15, several days before the April 22 terror attack.
As per reports, Lieutenant Narwal married Himanshi Narwal on April 16. The reception was held three days later and the couple left for Kashmir on April 21.
Additionally, NewsMeter found another video posted by Sharma on April 19, 2024āthree days before the Pahalgam attackāin which she is seen dancing in traditional Kashmiri attire at the same location featured in the now-viral video. This further confirms that the footage predates the incident and is unrelated to Lieutenant Narwal and his wife.(Archive)
Therefore, the claim that the viral video shows the last moments of Lieutenant Narwal and his wife before the Pahalgam terror attack is false. The individuals in the video are alive and have no connection to the tragic incident in Pahalgam.
