A video from 2019 showing Mahashay Dharampal Gulati while lying in a hospital bed surrounded by well wishers - one of who sings a patriotic song for him, is being passed off as his final moments before his demise on Thursday.
Gulati, owner and CEO of the iconic masala (spice) brand MDH - died of a cardiac arrest on December 3, 2020 at the age of 97.
BOOM tracked down the man who is seen singing in the now-viral video and confirmed that the it was recorded around September-October 2019.
Born on March 27, 1923 in Sialkot, now Pakistan, Gulati lived a fairy tale life of overcoming hardships to build the MDH business. His father set up a small shop in Sialkot which became popular as 'Deggi Mirch Wale'. After the partition in 1947, Gulati moved to Delhi with his family. He also became a recognised face among Indians for his appearances in MDH Masala's TV ads. More about the 'Masala King's' meteoric rise can be found here.
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The viral video shows a few men standing around a hospital bed on which a frail Dharampal Gulati can be seen lying. A man in a red t-shirt can be seen singing a patriotic song from the 1970-film Purab aur Paschim (East and West). Gulati appears to positively respond to the song.
After Gulati's death on December 3, 2020, the same video is now being shared with misleading claims. Several verified Twitter handles have shared the clip claiming it to show the last moments of the businessman.
Journalist Vikas Bhadauria has tweeted the video with a Hindi caption translating to 'Pictures of Masala King Mahashay Dharampal's (MDH) last moments, even during his last moments, his heart was beating for the country'.
(Hindi: मसाला किंग महाशय धर्मपाल (MDH) की आख़िरी समय की तस्वीरें, आख़िरी समय में भी उनका दिल देश के लिए ही धड़कता रहा)
The same video was tweeted by filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri with similar claim.
The video has been shared from multiple Twitter handles and Facebook pages in the past few hours.
The video is aslo viral on Facebook with Hindi caption translating to 'Pictures of Masala King Mahashay Dharampal's (MDH) last moments, even during his last moments, his hear was beating for the country'.
(Hindi: मसाला किंग महाशय धर्मपाल (MDH) की आख़िरी समय की तस्वीरें, आख़िरी समय में भी उनका दिल देश के लिए ही ...)
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Fact Check
A reverse image search on the key frames from the viral video did not yield any result.
BOOM then went through media reports on Gulati's death and found that he breathed his last at Mata Chanan Devi Hospital in Delhi after suffering a cardiac arrest.
We then contacted the hospital to get more information on the video. A hospital administrator told BOOM that the video was old.
"I don't remember the exact time of the video but it is old. I do recognise one of the faces in the video but he is no longer a part of the hospital. Gulati ji was admitted here back them for a brief period," the administrator told BOOM.
We then looked up the comments section of the tweets where the video was posted. In one of the tweets, we found a reply where the name of the person who was singing in the video was mentioned.
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While the Twitter user mentioned the name of the person singing the song - Rakesh Ahuja - he did not mention the timeline of the video. We looked up for Rakesh Ahuja on Facebook. However, his Facebook profile was initially locked. We then looked up for Gagan Ahuja and tracked his number from Facebook.
Gagan Ahuja had shared the same video from his profile with a Hindi caption that translates to 'Music has a strange power...ill for almost a year, when Mahashiya ji was in the hospital and the movement of his hand and legs were almost over, a family friend of mine Rakesh Ahuja, who was very close to MDH king Mahashiya ji, went to meet him. After doctors' suggestion, he sang Mahashiya ji's favourite song...the movement of his hands were restricted for almost two months...but see the magic for yourself. Goodbye liveliness'.
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BOOM then called Gagan Ahuja who confirmed to us that the person seen singing in the video was Rakesh Ahuja and the video was old.
We then contacted Rakesh who told us that the video was from 2019.
"I had gone to visit Mahashay ji in a hospital in Delhi after he was admitted in September or October 2019. The doctor there had requested me to sing something energetic for Mahashay ji whose body movements were quite restricted given his condition. So, I hummed a song and he blessed me," Rakesh Ahuja told BOOM.
Ahuja also told us that he had not shared the video on any social media profile earlier as he had made the video for himself. "However, when I heard about his death yesterday, I shared it on Facebook. But I did not mention anything on the post," Ahuja told BOOM.
Rakesh also told us that the video was recorded at Mata Chanan Devi hospital in Delhi.
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