A scripted video of a man forcibly popping balloons sold by a minor vendor in Bangladesh is being shared with a false claim that it is a real incident from India.
BOOM Bangladesh was able to confirm that the video was shot by Bangladeshi content creator Md Raju Miya in Dhaka’s Agargaon area.
The viral video captures the minor vendor in tears after a man pops most of his balloons in the middle of a street, triggering outrage across social media platforms.
The Claim
Several Indian X accounts shared the video with the caption, "Look the Republic's public on the Republic Day".
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
What We Found: Viral Video Is From Bangladesh
1. Longer Version Shared by a Bangladeshi Page: BOOM traced the longer version of the video to a Bangladeshi Facebook page Amazing Collection24 which shared it on January 12, 2026. The extended footage shows the man offering the child 1,000 Bangladeshi Taka and asking him to go home or play instead of selling balloons on the street.
We also ran a related keyword search in Bangla and found a video posted by another Bangladeshi Facebook page, MR BD Street Food, which captured the incident from a different angle. BOOM Bangladesh contacted the page admin, who confirmed that the incident took place in Dhaka and was scripted. The admin further identified the man in the video as Md Raju Miya, a Bangladeshi content creator who acted in the video along with the minor.
2. Confirmation From the Actor: We then visited the Facebook page of Md Raju Miya, known as The Dhaka-Raju Bhai, and found that the video was posted on his verified page on January 25, 2026.
Speaking to BOOM Bangladesh, Md Raju Miya confirmed that the video is staged. He said, “The video was shot in the Agargaon area, and it was a scripted video. The child knew everything beforehand, and several videos featuring the same child have been uploaded on my page later.”
(Additional Reporting: Tausif Akbar, BOOM Bangladesh)
