Fact Check: Viral video showing a man making a coconut fly is an awareness programme, but not a magic trick
India is a land of diverse culture with glorious past, rich heritage and different religious centers attracting people
Claim :
Viral video shows a person named Kuldeep Mishra making a coconut fly as a part of his magic trick, live on a TV channelFact :
He is participating in an awareness campaign conducted by News Nation, uncovering fraudsters who perform tricks to scam innocent people
India is a land of diverse culture with glorious past, rich heritage and different religious centers attracting people who seek divinity. This country is regarded as the Land of Saints. Several gurus enlightened the masses with their knowledge and spiritual awareness. Indian saints are revered personalities because of their wisdom and teachings. Some people worship them as gods and believe in whatever they do. Taking advantage of this belief, some conmen disguise themselves as saints and perform some tricks to scam innocent people.
One such video is going viral on social media which shows a person sitting along with others, and performing a mystic trick of making a coconut fly. This video is in circulation with the captions like: “ये देखिए कुलदीप मिश्रा का फ्रॉड। नारियल को हवा में उड़ा रहे हैं। जबकि साफ़-साफ़ दिख रहा है वो धागे से बंधा हुआ है।“ Look at this fraud of Kuldeep Mishra. They are blowing the coconut in the air. It is clearly visible that it is tied with a thread.
Some users shared this video with captions like “Godi Media EXPOSED News Nation Fake magic nariyal Video viral| Jadugar Kuldeep Mishra News Nation”
Some Instagram users shared the same video blaming the person seen in the video as a fraud and also calling the TV channel which telecast such program as fraud.
Here is the archive link of the claim.
Fact Check:
The claim is Misleading.
Firstly, we found a disclaimer published on all the videos stating, "DISCLAIMER -' Operation Pakhand' is News Nation's campaign against superstition. The aim of News Nation is not to hurt anyone's sentiments or beliefs; rather, the aim is to warn you about those who show miraculous powers. News Nation does not promote any kind of superstition."
The person seen in the video is a professional magician participating in an awareness campaign conducted by a TV channel named News Nation.
When we extracted keyframes from the viral video, and searched using Google reverse image search, we found a longer version of the video published by News Nation on March 3, 2025, with the title “Operation Pakhand: बाबा का दावा, अभिमंत्रित जल से होगा इलाज? udta nariyal Viral Video news nation”. In the video, we can see a few people in the video arguing with a person named Dayanand Maharaj. The persons sitting in the studio try to debunk the tricks performed by the babas in the name of religion.
The TV channel News Nation is conducting live debates with a few people trying to expose fraudsters who mislead people in the name of God. Here is the link to the playlist showing all the videos published in this series.
Here is another video published under Operation Pakhand, where the anchor tries to expose another baba.
Therefore, the viral video in circulation is part of a social awareness program which exposes tricks performed by fraudsters, hosted by a TV news channel. The claim is Misleading.
