Was Asad Ahmad Buried By Large Crowd Seen In The Viral Video? No, Viral Claim Is False

Following the death of Asad Ahmad in a police encounter, the son of late gangster Atiq Ahmad, a video of a crowd is going viral with the claim that it shows a large number of people gathered for the last rites of Asad Ahmad.

On April 13, 2023, Uttar Pradesh police's Special Task Force (STF) officers killed gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad's son Asad and his aide Ghulam in an exchange of fire. Asad and Ghulam were wanted for their alleged involvement in the Umesh Pal murder case.

Just a few days after, on April 16, 2023, gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf were shot dead at point-blank range by the three men posing as journalists in the middle of a media interaction on Saturday night. Both were being escorted by police personnel to a medical college in Prayagraj for a checkup. The three killers of Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf Ahmad have been detained and identified.

Claim:

The viral video shows a large crowd carrying a coffin in what appears to be a funeral procession. The viral video is shared with the claim, “Crowd of people involved in the funeral of Atiq Ahmed's son #मरहूम_असद Ahmed! May Allah give patience to the family Ameen.”

Fact Check:

We isolated the keyframes of the viral video and conducted a reverse image search on the keyframes. This led us to a video uploaded by YouTube user, ‘islamic speech’ uploaded on April 14, 2023. The video was titled in Urdu, ‘The scene of Hazrat Maulana Rabi Hosni Nadvi's funeral prayer’, where the visuals seen in the viral video can be seen from the 2.05 mark.

We also found that the same longer version of the viral video was uploaded by user ‘D.U.N.U.L’ on April 13, 2023. The video is titled in Urdu, “The scene of carrying the funeral of Hazrat Maulana Syed Muhammad Rabi Hosni Nadvi may Allah have mercy on him.” The visuals here can be seen from the 2.05 mark.

We conducted a keyword search with terms ‘Maulana Nadvi’ and came across a report published in Times of India on April 14, 2023. Maulana Rabe Hasani Nadvi, passed away at the age of 94 at Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama, on April 14, after a prolonged illness. Maulana Nadvi, a prominent Islamic seminaary was the president of All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and Rector (chancellor) of Nadwatul Ulama.

We also came across a report by the Times of India titled, ‘Gangster-politician Atiq's son Asad was laid to rest earlier in the day,’ published on April 16, 2023. The report notes that the bodies of gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed's son Asad and sharpshooter Ghulam Mohammed were laid to rest in Prayagraj on Saturday morning amid watertight security.

“All rituals were performed at the graveyard itself. Very limited entry was allowed inside the graveyard, and details of everyone were recorded in a register. While the process of burial was in progress, some locals tried to assemble at the entry lane of the graveyard, but the local police dispersed them by appealing to them to go back to their houses,” the Times of India report reads.

An ANI tweet from April 15, 2023, carryied the burial visuals of Asad Ahmad amid tight security.

Conclusion:

We found that the viral claim spread with the video that a large crowd gathered for Asad Ahmad's funeral is false. The viral video shows the funeral procession of Maulana Rabe Hasani Nadvi, who died at the age of 94 at Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama on April 14. The viral video is shared with false claims.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

Also Read: Are The Four Soldiers killed In The Bathinda Firing From ‘18 Horse Regiment’? No, Viral Claim Is False