Fact Check: Virat, Rohit and Dhoni didn’t meet Rishabh Pant in Dehradun hospital; viral claims are fake

New Delhi (Vishvas News): Following the tragic car accident of Indian cricketer Rishab Pant on the Delhi-Dehradun Highway, several posts about him are going viral on the internet. Several users are claiming that Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Mahendra Singh Dhoni met Rishabh Pant while he was admitted to a hospital in Dehradun. Pant has now been shifted to the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Mumbai for further treatment of his injuries.

Vishvas News investigated the viral posts and found that the claims in those posts are fake. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni did not meet Rishabh Pant at the hospital in Dehradun.

Claim:

Facebook user R news posted a video (archive link) on January 3 and wrote, “Elder brother Virat Kohli came to meet younger brother Rishabh Pant admitted in the hospital”. The video claims that Virat Kohli and Anushka, after returning from Dubai, went straight to the hospital in Dehradun to meet Rishabh Pant.

Facebook user Anwar Taaja News shared a video (archive link) claiming that former cricketer MS Dhoni also reached the Dehradun hospital to meet Rishabh Pant. Pant became emotional after seeing him.

Facebook user Nikhil Sahani Siwan also shared the video (archive link) news on January 2, and wrote, “Captain Rohit arrived to meet Rishabh Pant! #rishabpant #rohitsharma #BCCI #cricket #LatestNews #indiancricketteteam”

Investigation:

To verify the viral claims, we first searched Google with the keywords whether Kohli, Rohit and Dhoni had reached the hospital to meet Rishabh Pant, but we couldn’t find any news on any reliable website that could confirm these claims.

In a news article published four days ago in Dainik Bhaskar, it is mentioned that after the accident, Rishabh Pant is being treated at Max Hospital in Dehradun. He has torn 3 out of 4 ligaments in his knee. Surgery has been done for the forehead injury. Pant’s sister Sakshi, mother Saroj and partner Nitish Rana reached the hospital to meet him. DDCA director Shyam Sharma and actors Anil Kapoor and Anupam Kher also reached the hospital to meet him. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also reached the hospital and inquired about Pant’s health.

According to the news published in News18 on December 31, Rohit Sharma has inquired about Rishabh Pant’s health from Maldives. He took updates from the doctors engaged in Pant’s treatment. He is keeping an eye on Pant’s health. On December 30, Virat Kohli tweeted from his Twitter account and prayed for Pant’s speedy recovery. Apart from this, we could not find any news related to their meeting.

We also investigated the video of ‘India News’ shared by Facebook user Nikhil Sahani Siwan and found no mention of Rohit Sharma reaching Dehradun’s Max Hospital. The video also stated that Rohit Sharma took an update on Pant over the phone.

Facebook user Anwar Taaja News has claimed that Dhoni met Rishabh Pant in a hospital in Uttarakhand. To know its truth, we searched the thumbnail of the video with the help of Google reverse image. We found a similar picture on the website of Qatar Tribune. According to a report published on 17 May 2017, Shahrukh Khan reached Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital in UAE. The only difference between the thumbnail and this picture is that Pant and Dhoni are visible in it. While the picture used in the report has the little girl and Shah Rukh.

Dainik Jagran published a news article on January 4 mentioning the health status of Rishabh Pant. In the article, it was mentioned that Rishabh Pant met with an accident on December 30 after his car hit a divider on the Dehradun-Delhi highway near Narsan border. The cricketer was admitted to Max Hospital in Dehradun for necessary treatment.

The Dainik Jagran report further mentioned that Pant was taken to Mumbai on January 4 and was admitted to Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani hospital where he will undergo ligament surgery.

For further confirmation, we spoke to Narendra Singh Rawat, Admin Incharge, Dehradun Max Hospital. He said, “CM Dhami had come to meet Pant. Apart from him, Anil Kapoor and Anupam Kher have met him. If Dhoni, Virat and Rohit had come, we would have definitely known the development,”.

Devendra Sati, Bureau Chief of Dehradun Dainik Jagran said, “The claim of Virat, Rohit and Dhoni meeting Pant in the hospital is fake. Now, he has been referred to Mumbai. We scanned the Facebook page ‘R News‘ which made the fake claim. This page was created on August 6, 2022, and is followed by 5,172 users.