A video of a priest performing rituals on a high mountain peak, who suddenly loses his balance and falls into a deep ravine, is being shared on social media (here, here, and here) with the claim that it shows a 49-year-old priest in Andhra Pradesh who claimed to possess divine powers and could fly but died after jumping from a mountain in front of thousands of people. The same video was also reported by Republic TV (archived) with the same claim. Let’s verify the claim made in the post in this article.
Claim: The video shows a priest in Andhra Pradesh who claimed to possess divine powers and could fly, but died after jumping from a mountain.
Fact: The video does not show a priest in Andhra Pradesh who claimed to possess divine powers or to be able to fly. It shows the accidental death of Appa Papayya, a priest who slipped and fell while performing a customary ritual at Gampa Mallaiah Swamy Hill in Anantapur district in August 2021. Media reports, the police statement, and the FIR all describe the incident as an accidental fall and make no mention of Papayya claiming to possess divine powers or attempting to fly. Hence, the claim made in the post is Misleading.
A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video led us to multiple media reports (here, here, and here) published in August 2021 featuring the same visuals. According to these reports, the incident occurred at Gampa Mallaiah Swamy Hill in Singanamala village, Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh, where...
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