Fact Check: There’s No Bus Route 420 in Bengaluru, Viral Photo Mocking Politicians Is Edited

New Delhi (Vishvas News): A photo of an orange-colored bus with the bus route number 420 is circulating widely on social media, claiming that it’s meant for politicians and runs in Bengaluru. The route description on the image reads ‘Vidhana Soudha to Parappana Agrahara’  and a caption says  ‘Politician Special’, seemingly aimed at mocking politicians by referencing Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code that deals with cheating.

Vishvas News has found that the image is edited. In reality, there is no bus with route number 420 in Bengaluru; the original image actually shows a bus on route number 365.

What’s Included in the Viral Post?

The viral post was shared on Facebook by user ‘Balasubramaniam B.K’, with the caption: “For the first time ever, a bus route in Bengaluru has been thoroughly planned by the ruling Congress government… from source to destination. Route no. 420 from Vidhana Soudha to Parappana Agrahara (Central Jail). Don’t mind the politician special.”

The archive link of the post is here.

Investigation

To investigate this post, we used Google reverse image search and found this image being used as the profile picture for a Facebook page named ‘BMTC Volvo Bus’, originally uploaded on September 28, 2020. However, in the image, the route number was 365 and not 420, and the route was labeled as ‘National Park’ in Kannada. BMTC expands to Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation.

We also found this picture with route number 365 on numerous other websites.

The disparity between the original and edited images can be seen in the collage below.

Our next step was to verify whether a bus with route number 420 actually operates in Bengaluru. We searched the official BMTC website and found that there is no route 420 operational in Bengaluru.

Subsequently, we also checked the bus route from the State Legislative Assembly (Vidhana Soudha in Kannada) to the Central Jail in Parappana Agrahara, Bengaluru. It was confirmed that there is no direct bus service available on this route.

We also reached out to BMTC public relations officer K Arianna, who said that the post is fake and the image edited.

In the final phase of our investigation, Vishvas News scanned the social media profile of the Facebook user ‘Balasubramaniam B.K’, who shared the viral post. We found that the user is listed as being from Chennai and has over 3,000 followers.

Conclusion: Vishvas News checked the viral post and found that the image of the bus was edited. The bus route in the actual photograph was 365, not 420. There is no bus operating under route number 420 in Bengaluru.

Tags

• 420
• Bus
• Bus Route
• Fact Check
• Karnataka