Fact Check: Viral Claim That Teenager Anoop Sharma Injured In Accident Near Agra Cantt Railway Station Is Fake

New Delhi (Vishwas News): A social media post regarding an accident near Agra Cantt Railway Station is rapidly circulating online. The post includes a photograph of a teenager, claiming that a student named Anoop Sharma was involved in an accident near the station and has been hospitalised. Users are urging others to share it widely in public interest.

Vishvas News conducted an investigation and found that the teenager in the viral picture had actually passed away in an accident in Rishikesh about one and a half years ago. Therefore, the claim that this student was injured in an accident near Agra Cantt Railway Station is false.

What Is Going Viral

Users sent this post to Vishvas News tipline number +91 95992 99372 asking for a fact-check of the viral claim.

On March 15, Facebook user Hasan Tahalka (archive link) shared this photo along with the following caption:

“Anoop Sharma, Physics, JEE-NEET Delhi
Information/request.
This child’s accident has happened near Agra Cantt Railway Station. Has been admitted to the government hospital. Please post it in your respective groups so that its parents can know. These photos are of her purse which was in her pocket.”

Investigation:

To verify the viral claim, we conducted a Google search and found that this picture had previously gone viral with the same claim in May 2023. Some users (archive link) shared it on Facebook, indicating that this claim had already circulated about a year ago.

We performed a reverse image search using Yandex and found a news article published on ETV Bharat (archive link) on October 8, 2022. The article featured the same viral picture, confirming that a teenager had tragically died in a road accident in Rishikesh. The victim was admitted to Rishikesh AIIMS after the accident, where he succumbed to his injuries. The police arrested the car driver responsible, identified as Ansh Kalra, a resident of Ludhiana, Punjab, who was visiting relatives in Rishikesh. The accident occurred when Kalra’s speeding car collided with the teenager’s scooter.

We also spoke with Vinay Pandey, a reporter from ETV Bharat in Rishikesh, who confirmed that the teenager in the viral photo had indeed died in an accident in Rishikesh. He emphasised that the claim related to Agra Cantt is false and misleading.

We contacted Pradeep Kumar, in-charge of the Sadar police station area in Agra, who denied any such incident occurring there. He stated that no accident involving a teenager had taken place near Agra Cantt.

Further, we examined the profile of the Facebook user who shared the teenager’s photo and made the false claim. The user, residing in Tulsipur, Uttar Pradesh, has approximately 5,000 friends.