Incessant rainfall in Bihar has left many parts of the state flooded which has claimed 29 lives till now as per Bihar State Disaster Management Authority. The state government has requested the Indian Air Force for helicopters for lifting and airdropping food packets and medicines in flood-affected areas of Patna.
In this atmosphere of panic and chaos, certain video clips have gone viral on social media which claim to be of crocodiles on the prowl during the floods in Bihar. The video clips claim to be from Rajendra Nagar in Patna. In the video, people can be seen trying to tackle a crocodile that somehow ended up in a residential area.
https://twitter.com/av_abhinav007/status/1178595529623777280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/pratikicecool/status/1178571178882916352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
However, we can confirm that the said video isn’t from Patna or even from Bihar. Actually, the scenes are from Vadodara in Gujarat and it was captured during the floods that had hit the state in July-August this year. Several incidents of crocodiles roaming on the streets of Vadodara had happened during the floods this year, and this was one such incident. On 3rd and 4th July this year, several media housed had reported that a 10 feet long crocodile was rescued by a joint effort of NDRF and forest department officials on 3rd July from the Vadsar area in Vadodara. In a video posted by Times of India on 5th August, the same visuals of the crocodile can be seen.
In a longer form of the video which is available on YouTube posted by Desh Gujarat later on 31st August, people can be heard conversing in Gujarati. Even in the videos posted claiming to be from Patna, a person can be heard saying ‘O Bappa’, an expression that comes naturally to a Gujarati.
The same video was shared by a Telugu News channel claiming that it was from Nandyal Road. In the comment section of the video shared on YouTube, people can be seen calling out the news channel for spreading fake news.
The same video has also been shared on YouTube claiming that it is from Kerala. This is from the 11th of August, 20 days before Desh Gujarat uploaded its video.
Thus, it’s quite clear that the video is not from Bihar as it is being claimed by some people, and it is from Gujarat. People should refrain from believing these viral videos as it might worsen an already bad situation by spreading further fear and panic among people. It appears that not even media outlets like NTV Telugu are exercising the necessary amount of caution that one should in these tense times.