By Srijit Das
A video of people collecting and counting cash donations in a mosque is circulating online with a false claim that it shows Muslim representatives of Shirdi Sai Baba temple collecting money. The claim further adds that the temple has declined to donate for the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
BOOM found that the video is from Bangladesh's Kishoreganj City, and shows representatives of a mosque named Pagla Mosque collecting donations.
In the viral video, people wearing Islamic caps can be seen collecting cash from a donation box and putting them into sacks. The clip also shows the funds being transferred through sacks and a group of people including children counting the cash received.
The video is captioned as, "•COLLECTION OF HUNDI• •OF SHIRDI SATSAI• • See who collects the Shirdi Baba hundi. No contribution has been made by Shirdi Sansthan for Ram Mandir till now, as I have been told and the information goes. • Do indicate, if I am wrong." (sic)
Click here to view the post.
We also received the same video on our WhatsApp tipline number (7700906588) with a verification request.
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Fact Check
BOOM noticed the sacks in the video closely and found Bangla text written on it. Taking a cue, we ran a related keyword search in Bengali using words such as 'Mosque Donations' and found that a Bangladeshi Facebook user posted the same video on his profile on May 6, 2023.
The user captioned the video in Bengali as 5 crore 59 lakh Bangladeshi taka and diamond found at Pagla mosque's donation box. (Original caption in Bangla: কিশোরগঞ্জের ঐতিহাসিক পাগলা মসজিদের আটটি দানবাক্স এবার চার মাস পর খোলা হয়েছে। এবার দানবাক্সগুলোতে পাওয়া গেছে রেকর্ড ৫ কোটি ৫৯ লাখ ৭ হাজার ৬৮৯ টাকা। এছাড়াও বৈদেশিক মুদ্রা ও স্বর্ণালঙ্কার পাওয়া গেছে। এবার একটি ডায়মন্ডের নাকফুল পাওয়া গেছে। প্রায় ১৩ ঘণ্টায় ২০০জনে এ টাকা গণনার কাজ করেন। শনিবার (৬ মে) সকাল ৮ টায় দানবাক্সগুলো খোলা হয়।)
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We then searched for Bangladeshi news reports about the donation at Kishoreganj's Pagla Mosque and found a news bulletin by Jago News carrying the same visuals uploaded on May 6, 2023.
The news bulletin also stated that a hefty donation of around 5.5 crore Bangladeshi taka was received in the donation box at Pagla mosque.
Another May 6, 2023, report by Kaaler Kantho about the incident states, "After a 118-day, the chest of Kishoreganj's Pagla Mosque was opened, revealing eight donation boxes and 19 sacks of cash totaling an astonishing 55.9 million taka. This sum has shattered all previous fundraising records for the mosque."
The article further adds, "To make use of the donations, the Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Abul Kalam Azad, who is also the chairman of the management committee of Pagla Mosque, has announced plans to build an Islamic complex of international standards on the mosque's campus. The complex will provide facilities for devotees, with a capacity for 60,000 people to pray together. The estimated initial cost of the project is Tk 115 crore, and work has already begun on it. Once the initial work is completed, the main construction phase will commence. The donated funds are now being deposited in a bank."
Additionally, BOOM reached out to a representative from Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust who confirmed that the trust has not contributed or funded the construction of the Ram temple.
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