Old Video Of Yogi Adityanath Applying Tilak From Ashes Revived After Asad Ahmad Encounter

FactCheck

News 18 on March 19, 2020, reported that Yogi Adityanath reached Gorakhpur and commenced the festival of Holi by applying a tilak from the ashes of the Holika. He did this at the Gorakhnath Temple. BOOM had debunked the same video in March, 2023. On February 24, 2023, lawyer Umesh Pal, the sole witness in the 2005 murder case of BSP MLA Raju Pal, was attacked and murdered outside his residence in Prayagraj. Constable Raghvendra Singh, who was in charge of his security was also injured during the shootout and succumbed to his wounds on March 1. At that time the video of Yogi Adityanath was shared in this context with claims that he was honouring Singh's sacrifice by applying tilak from ashes. The video has now resurfaced on April 13 after the death of Asad Ahmad, reported on media, in an encounter led by Uttar Pradesh’s Special Task Force in Jhansi. Asad is the son of mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad, and was produced before a Prayagraj court in connection with the Umesh Pal murder case.