Claim
An old image of gold jewellery recovered by Tamil Nadu police has resurfaced with false claims that the photograph was taken after an Income Tax Department raid in one of the 16 priests' houses of Tirupati Balaji temple trust. The image has been shared on Twitter with a caption in Hindi, “This is the earning of your blood and sweat. In the name of faith and religion, showing fear and hypocrisy, your money is robbed by people. Income tax raids were conducted in the house of one of the 16 priests of Tirupati Balaji temple. 128 kg of Gold, cash worth 150 crore and diamonds worth 70 crores recovered etc.” (Original text in Hindi: “यह है आपके खून पसीने की कमाई, आस्था और धर्म के नाम पर लोगों में पाखंडवाद डर भय दिखा कर आपके धन पर डाकां डाला जाता है तिरुपति बालाजी मंदिर के 16 पुजारियों में से एक पुजारी के घर में Income tax के छापा पड़ा जिसमें 128_किलो_सोना,150_करोड़_रुपया_नगदी; 70_crore_के_हीरे बरामद हुए etc”)
Fact
BOOM had debunked the same photograph that was viral earlier with a similar claim that the photo was part of a raid at Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam's board member J Sekhar Reddy. BOOM had found that the photo shows gold and jewelley recovered by police following a theft at a Jos Alukkas showroom in Vellore, Tamil Nadu. We found a Tweet on December 20, 2021, by News 18 Tamil Nadu's input editor Mahalingam Ponnusamy with a video similar to the viral image. We also contacted Vellore's Additional Superintendent of Police (ADSP) KS Sundaramoorthy who confirmed that the claim with the viral video is false.