Fact Check: Is There A Meat Shop Operating Under A Temple In Kerala?

A video circulating on social media claims that a chicken shop is running under a temple in Rahul Gandhi constituency in Wayanad, Kerala.

The video shows a small shop under a temple-like structure, and a voiceover can be heard saying, "Friends, this is the Sita Ram temple, and beneath it lies a shop. It's a chicken shop where chicken meat is sold. This is the temple square, and that building there is the Sita Ram temple. This is a chicken shop, and if you look up, you'll see something written in Hindi." 

A text layer on the video further alleges that Rahul Gandhi inaugurated the shop as it read, "Wake up Hindus, wake up, this is Sita Ram temple in Wayanad, Kerala, which has a chicken shop which has been inaugurated by Rahul Gandhi which is the parliamentary constituency of Rahul Gandhi." 

An archived version of the post can be accessed here.

However, the claim is false. A video from Pakistan has been shared with the false claim that it shows a Sita Ram temple in Wayanad, Kerala. 

How did we find the source?

Multiple comments on the viral post that the video was from Pakistan. This led us to a YouTube vlog (archived here) published on a channel named "Makhan Ram jaipal Vlogs" on August 25, 2023, showing a temple with features that match the temple in the viral post.

The temple shown in the vlog is located in Ahmedpur Sial, a town in the Jhang district of Pakistan's Punjab province, and no Hindus live around that area. Around the 1:15-minute mark, the vlogger shows the temple and the chicken shop in front of the temple. We reviewed the YouTube channel and found that several vlogs from Pakistan have been posted. 

The same video was uploaded on the vlogger's Instagram account (archived here) on April 17. This reel was circulated with false claims that the temple is in Wayanad. The post caption states that the Sita Ram Mandir is in Punjab, Pakistan. 

History of the temple

An article in the Pakistani newspaper The Friday Times features an image of the Sita Ram Temple. Upon comparing the image with a video, we observed that both depict the words "om" and "Sita Ram" inscribed in Hindi atop the temple. The report stated that the Sita Ram temple in Ahmadpur Sial tehsil of Jhang district is one of the landmarks in architecture from the 19th century in that region. Ahmedpur Sial, a sub-district of Jhang district, was once a Hindu-majority town with several temples and other places of worship.

According to a local historian, a violent mob attacked the temple following the attack on Babri Mosque in India in 1992. It no longer functions as a temple and is now a marketplace. Most of the valuables inside the temple were stolen by locals.

Where is the temple located?

We located the temple on Google Maps and found a few photos of the temple. We compared the images to confirm that it is the same temple. The temple is permanently closed and is located in Ahmedpur Sial of Jhang district in Punjab, Pakistan.

The verdict

A video of an abandoned temple in Pakistan has falsely been presented as a chicken shop operating beneath a Hindu temple in Wayanad. The structure in the video is located in the Punjab province of Pakistan and is unrelated to India. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.

(This story was originally published by Logically Facts, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective.)