A video showing women covering their faces as they emerge from what appears to be a hidden basement has gone viral on social media.
The footage is being shared with the explosive claim that hundreds of girls were rescued from a brothel operating beneath an ISKCON temple. The caption claims that carrying the video alleged a massive underground sex trafficking operation was busted at the religious site.
A social media user shared the video with a caption that reads, “Hundreds of girls have been rescued from the underground temple of ISKCON. This is a police rescue from a temple. You can share the video with our young brothers.”
On a Google reverse image search, we found that the same video was shared by a YouTube channel, Vadalwara Live on December 16, 2021. The caption associated with the video reads, “Deepa Dance Bar had 17 girls hiding in the basement.”
The report stated that Mumbai Police had conducted a raid at Deepa Dance Bar in Andheri, Mumbai, and rescued 17 women who had been hidden in a secret basement.
Another Facebook page, Nation Today, shared the same video on December 15, 2021, with a caption that reads, “Raid at Mumbai's Deepa Dance Bar of Andheri West. 22 staff members, including 17 bar dancer arrested.”
Using this information, we searched with relevant keywords and found the incident was also reported by NDTV on December 13, 2021.
According to the report, the raid was carried out at Deepa Bar in upscale Andheri on a Saturday following a tip-off that women were being made to dance in front of customers there. The search operation did not go as planned: the bathroom, storage room, and kitchen were all empty. A large mirror in the make-up room caught the attention of officials. It was later broken with a hammer, revealing a passage that led to a secret basement. Seventeen dancers were found inside the hidden dungeon, which had facilities like AC and beds. A case was registered against the staff, including the bar's manager and cashier
We also did not find any reports regarding the viral claim. Hence, we can ascertain that the viral claim is false.
