A video showing a group of men and women exiting a lodge that was turned into a quarantine center in Andhra Pradesh is being given a communal spin on social media. The footage shows men wearing skull caps and women in burqas exit the center with luggage. The entrance structure of the building has a figure of a Hindu deity on it.
Netizens are falsely claiming that a temple was converted into a quarantine center in the state. The viral video is being shared with the misleading caption, "Kanipakam Ganesh temple, Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh, is being used as a quarantine center by the Secular AP of Reverend CM Jagan!!"
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BOOM received the video on its WhatsApp helpline number (7700906111) enquiring if it was true.
We searched with the same viral caption on Facebook and found that the video was being shared with a similar misleading narrative.
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FACT-CHECK
We observed that 'Sri Ganesh Sadan' was written on the board at the entrance of the building. On performing a Google search using the same keywords and 'Andhra Pradesh' we found that Sri Ganesh Sadan is a lodge located in Kattamanchi, Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.
Kattamanchi is a pilgrimage centre in Chittoor district as the Vinayaka temple is located here.
The Sri Ganesh Sadan lodge is in the same area and the structure of Lord Ganesha at the entrance corroborates the same.
The same name of the lodge and the structure can be spotted on Google Maps as in the viral video which further confirms that it is the same building.
Additionally, we found a report by The Hans India dated April 7, 2020, which states that Ganesh Sadan Lodge had been turned into a COVID-19 quarantine center. Furthermore, the Chittoor Superintendent of police (SP) Senthil Kumar had warned those circulating the viral video with false claims. This piece of misinformation was previously debunked by Factly.
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The video is the latest in a series of misinformation targeting the Muslim community after several people who took part in Tabligh-e-Jamaat's Markaz, a religious congregation in Delhi last month, and tested positive for COVID-19.
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