A stampede at New Delhi Railway Station on the night of 15 February 2025 resulted in 18 deaths, including five children, and left over a dozen injured. The incident occurred due to a sudden surge of passengers heading to Prayagraj for the ongoing Prayagraj Maha Kumbh. Amid this, a video circulating on social media (here, here, and here) claims to show visuals of the stampede at the station and that 500 people died that day. Let’s verify the truth behind the video in this article.
Claim: Video shows the 2025 stampede at New Delhi Railway Station.
Fact: The viral video predates the 15 February 2025 stampede incident at New Delhi Railway Station. It was shared online by several social media users in January 2025. The location in the video is identified as near Shri Ram Hospital on Ayodhya Dham Road in Ayodhya, confirming that it is unrelated to Delhi. Hence, the claim made in the post is Misleading.
A reverse image search of the keyframes from the viral video led us to an Instagram post dated 28 January 2025, featuring the same video (archived). The post’s caption reads: “Stay cautious, stay alert, avoid crowds” 🚫 along with hashtags like #Ayodhya, #RamJanmabhoomi, #RamMandirAyodhya, #UP, #UPTourism, #Instagram, #Reels, #Mahakumbh2025, #Prayagraj, #TheMySangam, and #TriveniSangam, confirming that the viral video is not related to the 15 February 2025 stampede at New Delhi railway station.
We noticed a small building labelled “Advocate Chamber” in the viral video. Taking a clue from the Instagram post, we searched for an Advocate Chamber near the Ayodhya temple and identified the location near Shri Ram Hospital on Ayodhya Dham Road in Ayodhya. The comparison can be seen below.
We also found an X post (archived) by “The Quint” journalist Piyush Rai dated 27 January 2025 that featured a crowd video from Ayodhya, where Maha Kumbh visitors were arriving to see Ram Lalla.
We noticed the “Mumbai Dosa King” shop sign seen in both the viral and Piyush’s videos. The comparison can be seen below.
Piyush’s video shows that the shop is located opposite Shri Ram Hospital, confirming that the video was recorded near Shri Ram Hospital on Ayodhya Dham Road in Ayodhya. We verified this location using Google Maps Street View.
To sum up, an unrelated video of a large crowd from Ayodhya is shared as visuals of the February 2025 stampede at New Delhi Railway Station.
