Photo of superstar Yash visiting Trimula ahead of KGF2 release shared as visit to Ram Mandir

Hyderabad: A photo of Kannada superstar Yash visiting a temple in traditional attire is doing the rounds of social media. It is being claimed that the actor visited the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and announced Rs. 50 crores donation for the construction of the temple.

"South superstar actor Yash Kumar visited Ramlala in Ram Mandir and announced to give 50 crore rupees for construction of Ram temple (sic)," wrote a Facebook user who shared the photo.

Fact Check

NewsMeter ran a keyword search to verify the claim of Yash donating Rs. 50 crores for the construction of Ram Mandir but we did not find any reports about the actor's visit to Ayodhya or the donation for Ram Mandir's construction.

We conducted a reverse image search of the viral photo and found the same image used in an article by The Indian Express on 12 April 2022. It reported that the actor visited Lord Balaji at Tirumala Venkateswara temple ahead of the release of his film 'KGF: Chapter 2'. The article carried several images of the actor wearing the same attire as seen in the viral photo.

We also found a video of Yash visiting Trimula Temple published by NYT Entertainment on YouTube. The video has the same visuals as seen in the viral photo.

For further confirmation, we checked the actor's social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) but did not find an official announcement of donating any amount for the construction of Ram Mandir.

News18, in an article published on 1 September 2002, reported that "the photo was found out to be not from an Ayodhya trip but during the actor's visit to Tirupati in April, ahead of the release of KGF: Chapter 2." It added, "Neither has Yash himself made any official statement regarding any kind of donation."

Therefore, we concluded that the claim that the KGF actor visited Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and promised a donation of Rs. 50 crores are false.