On April 30, 2024, a video went viral on social media platform X allegedly showing Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab and KMC officials falling into Gujjar Nullah. However, the incident actually occurred in India in June 2016.
Video of Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab, KMC officials falling in Gujjar Nullah
The iVerify Pakistan team has checked this content and has established that it is false.
To arrive at this verdict, the iVerify Pakistan team investigated the claim through a reverse image search and found the origin of the incident in the video.
On April 30, 2024, the iVerify Pakistan team was alerted via the public tipline to authenticate a claim.
The person providing the tip mentioned that the video was initially posted by an X user, who appears to be a PTI supporter, on April 30.
The caption for the post said, “Scenes of the sinking of the Titanic witnessed during a patrol of Gujjar Nullah by Murtaza Wahab and KMC officials.”
The video gained over 17,000 views and also caught the attention of other X users. It was reshared with the same caption here with 59,000 views, here, here and here.
The iVerify Pakistan team initiated an investigation into the claim due to its virality and to determine if the event depicted actually happened or not to satisfy the public’s query for clarification on the matter.
To verify the claim, the team conducted a reverse image search of a screenshot taken from the video, which yielded numerous Indian news articles and YouTube videos.
An article published on June 27, 2016, by Indian news organisation India.com was titled: “Panaji Mayor Surendra Furtado Finds Himself In Murky Waters As Photo-Op Goes Wrong During De-Weeding Drive”.
The report said that a photo-op for the mayor of Panaji city turned into a “major embarrassment” when a weeding machine he was aboard along with other officials for a demonstration in a creek overturned due to their combined weight.
“The mayor along with five officials and a journalist climbed atop the machine, which can only carry two persons,” the report said. It added that the mayor was unhurt in the incident
The iVerify Pakistan team also found the same video of the incident on YouTube with the title: “Photo-Op Of Panaji Mayor Ends Up In Sewage Caught On Camera”.
The incident was covered by the Indian news channel India Today on June 27, 2016.
The team contacted Wahab for a response regarding the claim who said, “It’s fake. Shows how fake things are so frequently circulated.”
Later, he said in a post on X: “The purported video circulating on social media about me falling into Gujjar Naala is neither of Gujjar Naala nor of me. It’s apparently from India. I am fine … with my family. Social media is evil.”
The iVerify Pakistan team has determined that the claim regarding the video of the Karachi mayor and officials of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation falling in a drain is false.
The video is actually from an incident that occurred in India in June 2016 when a public relations exercise of the mayor of Panaji went wrong and was caught on camera.
June 27, 2016, India.com report:
https://www.india.com/news/india/panaji-mayor-surendra-furtado-finds-himself-in-murky-waters-as-photo-op-goes-wrong-during-de-weeding-drive-1289364/
June 27, 2016, India Today YouTube video:
https://youtu.be/n535W6TFkos?si=nn1GacXRePPNC9aq
