A post accompanying a video of the transportation of large-sized bells on a truck is being widely shared across social media platforms with the claim that the video shows BHEL Trichy manufactured bells for Ayodhya Ram Mandir. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video shows bells manufactured by BHEL Trichy for Ayodhya Ram Mandir.
Fact: In November 2023, Rajendra Prasad, a devotee from Bengaluru, placed an order for the manufacturing of 48 bells at Andal Moulding Works in Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu, to be installed in the newly built Ram Mandir. The viral video shows these bells being part of a special puja conducted at the Namakkal Anjaneyar Temple before they were sent to Bengaluru. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the screenshots of the video, we found a video on YouTube that carried identical visuals. On reverse image search of keyframes, we could identify that the temple featured in the video is Namakkal Anjaneyar Temple.
For further details, we ran a relevant keyword search regarding the claim, which led us to a news report by The Hindu on 14 December 2023. According to The Hindu and other news reports (CNBC-TV18, CNN News18), in November 2023, Rajendra Prasad, a devotee from Bengaluru, placed an order for the manufacturing of 48 bells at Andal Moulding Works, located on Mohanur Road in Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu. These bells were intended for installation in the newly built Ram Mandir. The company delivered 42 bells weighing a total of 1,200 kg. Subsequently, a special puja was conducted at the Namakkal Anjaneyar Temple, and the bells were sent to Bengaluru. The viral video capturing the puja was recorded at Namakkal Anjaneyar Temple. These reports establish that BHEL Trichy is not associated with these bells.
During this search, we also came across a news report from The Economic Times stating that BHEL Trichy has a history of producing approximately 700 steel wheels for temple chariots in Tamil Nadu over the past 45 years. However, there are no reports of BHEL Trichy manufacturing bells for Ayodhya Ram Mandir.
To sum it up, these bells for Ayodhya Ram Mandir are manufactured by Andal Moulding Works in Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu, not by BHEL Trichy.
