UP Police lodges FIR against eight for spreading ‘misleading’ posts about Maha Kumbh

A video posted by a user on Instagram claimed that bodies of deceased pilgrims were being floated in the river at Maha Kumbh

Mahakumbh Nagar: Police have registered an FIR against eight people for allegedly spreading misleading information about the ongoing Maha Kumbh on Twitter and Instagram, officials said on Monday.

According to police, one of the posts on X described Maha Kumbh 2025 as a “death festival”, claiming falsely that three members of the same family had died in the stampede and that their relatives were forced to carry the bodies from the post-mortem house on their shoulders.

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Upon verification, the video used in the post was found to be from Nepal, they said.

The Kumbh Mela police had already debunked the claim through their official account. FIRs have been registered against the seven X account holders, and legal action is underway.

In another case, a video posted by a user on Instagram claimed that bodies of deceased pilgrims were being floated in the river at the Maha Kumbh. The video also falsely claimed that the kidneys of those still breathing were being harvested before their bodies were discarded into the river, police said.

Police said such misleading videos were an attempt to tarnish the image of the Uttar Pradesh government and incite public resentment.

SSP (Kumbh) Rajesh Dwivedi told PTI that an official complaint has been lodged at Kotwali Mahakumbh Nagar police station against the operators of these social media accounts for circulating false and misleading claims related to the event.