Unrelated videos go viral as child abduction cases in Gorakhpur.

In the first clip, four masked people can be seen in a forest. Four children lay unconscious with their hands tied and their mouths taped shut. It looked like someone was secretly filming a video and the person behind the camera said, “He's taking money for the kidnapped children.”

The second clip shows a police officer warning people to be vigilant and referring to a gang of kidnappers.

The third clip shows a child's dismembered body.

The final clip shows a man cutting open a living person's chest and removing their organs.

Archived link.

However, during our research, we discovered that the claim was misleading. The videos have nothing to do with child abduction. Click here for the fact check.

Fact check

We began our investigation by taking a few screenshots of each clip in the viral video and performing a reverse image search.

First clip

During a reverse image search of the clip's screenshots, we found a Facebook post on July 9, 2022. The full version of the clip was uploaded there. At the 0:30 timestamp, text appeared that read: “Please read the video disclaimer carefully. This is not a real incident.” At the 1:30 timestamp, there was a disclaimer that read: “The video is a pure fiction, all events in the video are scripted and made for educational purposes, it does not promote any activity or defame any ritual.” . This video has nothing to do with any real incident, all characters/people shown in the video are playing their roles.

This makes it clear that the video is not a real one, but a script.

Second clip

Here the police officer says: “If an unknown person comes to your door, do not open the door or interact with him.” From Bargadwa (a place in the city of Gorakhpur in the state of Uttar Pradesh), a message was received that 500 people Beggars in disguise kill people and remove their organs. Five to six of them were arrested and they provided this information.

The Gorakhpur News logo was visible in the clip. We found the original video on YouTube channel Gorakhpur News uploaded on August 25, 2019. From the timestamp 0:08, the viral video could be seen and the news anchor's voiceover could be heard, which was similar to the viral video. The news anchor then mentioned that SP City Dr. Kaustab said that the viral message was fake. There were no child kidnapping gangs or similar incidents in the city. He said fake news was being spread virally in the name of Gorakhpur.

Gorakhpur Police tweeted on September 7, 2022 that the viral message was false.

Third clip

The clips show a photo of a child's dismembered body.

A reverse image search of the screenshot from the third clip led us to a report published in Egnews24 on September 17, 2016. The report mentioned the social media posts claiming it was a case of child abduction. Nothing was mentioned about the incident or the location.

Please read here. Archived link.

The image has long been shared in various contexts. Since the image has been online since at least 2016, we can conclude that this is not a recent incident in Gorakhpur.

Fourth clip

A reverse image search of the screenshot of the final clip led us to a report published on January 19, 2018. According to the report, “a group of cartel gunmen fighting for control of a Mexican coastal state cut out the heart of one of their living victims, while another was beheaded. The violence occurred near the seaside resorts of Acapulco and Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, Guerrero.

The report included several photos of the incident. Below it was a photo that was similar to the screenshots from the last clip.

This makes it clear that the claim is misleading. The clips in the viral video have nothing to do with child abduction.

Diploma

Based on our investigation, we can say that the claim is misleading. The first clip was written for educational purposes, the clip in which the police officer urges people to be vigilant is edited, the third clip has been online since at least 2016 and the last clip is not from India. The clips have nothing to do with child abduction.