Fact Check: Before swearing in ceremony did Ram Nath Kovind and Draupadi Murmu perform verdict rituals

New Delhi, July 26: It has barely been a day since Draupadi Murmu was sworn-in as President of India and the fake news factories are in overdrive mode.

First a news about Prime Minister Narendra Modi ignoring former president, Ram Nath Kovind did the rounds.

Now a claim with an image has gone viral in which it is claimed that Murmu along with Kovind participated in a Vedic ritual before heading for the official formalities of power transfer.

While sharing the photo, a user wrote, 'the feelings and emotions of these moments associated with the transfer of power create history. The political formalities for the new President's takeover can wait. But the Vedic rituals are being prioritised OneIndia has found that this claim is misleading. A reverse image search led us to a photograph of 2020 which was clicked in Deodhar in Jharkhand. Koviind was an official visit to the state of which Murmu was the governor.

Prayers were offered at the Baba Baidyanath Temple in Deodhar in February 2020. Our search also led us to a report in Lens Eye which used a similar photo.

Several other portals have published the same report. The DC Deodhar Twitter handle had also tweeted a video of the event which took place on February 29 2020.

This was also tweeted by the official handle of the President of India. It said President Kovind visited Baba Baidyanath Dham in Deoghar, Jharkhand.

Hence this makes it clear that the two year old photo of Kovind and Murmu is being shared with the claim that the rituals took place on July 25 the day Draupadi Murmu was sworn in as President of India.