India's first urban cable car system, built in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home constituency, began trial operations in October. Social media users shared the video falsely claiming it showed a crash during the system's debut ride. But a journalist covering the event shown in the video told AFP it was filmed in Dongargarh in central India in April.
“Modi built a four-kilometer (2.4-mile) cable car in Varanasi at a cost of eight billion rupees ($95 million). The carriage broke down and fell during its debut journey – and interestingly, it was also carrying a BJP leader,” it said on Facebook in Hindi. mail October 1, 2025, referring to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The 26-second video shows the cable car setting off before cutting to a scene of a crashed gondola and injured passengers.
Screenshot of a false Facebook post made on October 8, 2025, with a red X added by AFP.
A clip with similar claims appeared on Instagram And X On October 2, trial runs of India's first urban public transport cable car began in Varanasi, news agency ANI reported. reported (archive link).
To improve urban mobility, the 3.8 km (2.36 mi) corridor will use 148 gondolas to carry up to 100,000 passengers per day.
But the video actually shows a cable car accident in the neighboring state of Chhattisgarh.
A reverse image search on Google using key frames found the same video loaded on Instagram April 25, 2025 (archive link).
The message, signed in Hindi, reads in part: “Ropeway trolley breaks down in Dongargarh, BJP leader has a miraculous escape and is taken to Rajnandgaon Sanjeevani Hospital.”
Rajnandgaon district of Chhattisgarh is located 660 kilometers (410 miles) from Varanasi.
Comparison of screenshots of a fake post (L) and an Instagram video
The caption indicates that the report is from Monaj Devangan, a reporter for local news agency Correct News CG, who told AFP that the footage was filmed in Chhattisgarh.
“The cable car suddenly crashed. The BJP leader, who was on board along with other passengers, was injured. The injured were taken to the nearest hospital,” he said on October 8, 2025.
Local Media retail outlets reporting accident said that a gondola carrying devotees to the Bamleshwari temple in Dongargarh became detached from its cable and fell to the ground, injuring some BJP leaders, among others (archive Here, Here And Here).
Years published An October 3 video of the trial run of the Varanasi cable car system, showing gondolas in a different livery from the one in the fake video (archive link).
Uttar Pradesh Police also fired false statement in a message on your account X (archive link).
AFP previously debunked Modi-related disinformation Here.
