Fact Check: Pak accounts FALSELY share Bangladesh video as Kolkata mosque demolition

The viral video is from Bangladesh and shows a mob vandalising the house of a rape-murder accused. It has no connection to the contentious Kolkata mosque.

A video of a mob allegedly demolishing a mosque has gone viral. Many Pakistan-based social media accounts shared the clip, claiming it showed a 136-year-old mosque near the Kolkata airport.

One such post on Facebook read: “How can a mosque be a security risk??? A 136-year-old Ghauri Jami #mosque near #kolkata’s airport was demolished to turn it into a Ram Mandir. BJP-RSS goons ordered this. Now minority religions are treated like a threat in India. Absolutely insane!” A Pakistan-based news outlet, Gulf News Updates, shared this video on its YouTube channel, with a similar claim.

India Today Fact Check found that the viral video is not from India, but from Bangladesh. There are no credible reports of a mosque near the Kolkata airport being demolished.

A keyword search led us to news reports by The Hindu and MoneyControl, published in July this year. According to them, the 136-year-old Gauripur Jama Masjid – also known as Bankra Mosque – stands roughly 165 metres from the airport's secondary runway, well short of standard aviation safety distances.

This posed an obstacle to airport modernisation, wide-body aircraft movement, and installing low-visibility landing equipment for decades.

While the previous Trinamool Congress government reportedly made no move to resolve the issue, the current BJP government initiated suspended Friday prayers at the mosque. A possible relocation of the mosque has also been discussed with concerned parties, though no resolution has been reached.

Our search did not yield any report confirming demolition of the century-old structure yet.WHERE’S THE VIDEO FROM?

A reverse image search of the video’s frames led us to a Facebook post by ChdNews24 dated September 20, showing the same structure being vandalised by a mob. According to the caption, the house belonged to a man accused of murder in Pabna district, which is located in Bangladesh.

A further search led us to news reports from Bangladeshi outlets including The Daily Star, Jamuna TV and Prothom Alo. According to them, in Pabna district, a 10-year-old girl was raped and murdered. Police subsequently arrested two men, Mustafa Kamal and Mohammad Yasin.

The incident sparked outrage among locals, and a mob vandalised Kamal's house over two consecutive days. None of the Bangladeshi reports mentioned the structure being a mosque.

It is therefore evident that a video from Bangladesh was falsely shared as visuals of a mosque demolition in Kolkata.- EndsPublished By: Pathikrit SanyalPublished On: Sep 23, 2026 10:49 IST