West Bengal Police Debunk Viral Border Video as Kali Immersion, Not Border Exodus

MP, 26 Nov 2025, Kolkata :  Amid claims that Bangladeshi nationals were leaving Bengal in large numbers following the SIR order, the state police on Tuesday debunked a viral video circulating on social media, clarifying that it actually showed a Kali idol immersion ceremony near the India-Bangladesh border in Nadia district.

On Tuesday evening, the police posted the video on their official social media page along with screenshots of two posts, including one from a handle named Military Observer. The post had claimed that a large number of Bangladeshi nationals were crossing back into Bangladesh after the SIR announcement in West Bengal.

After the post came to their notice, police initiated a fact-checking process. They found that the video was not related to any cross-border movement but was of a crowd gathered for the immersion of Goddess Kali in the Mathabhanga river near the border fencing in Nadia. Once the verification was complete, the state police publicly marked the Military Observer post as fake. They also shared the original post uploaded by a local resident of Phunkotola, marked as real, which clearly stated that the gathering was for an idol immersion.

Sharing both screenshots, the police wrote: “A video/pic of immersion of Idol/Image of goddess Shyama/Kali of Village-Phunkotola (located near Bangladesh Border), PS-Murutia, District-Nadia, West Bengal in Mathabhanga river is being circulated as illegal immigrants leaving the state en masse due to SIR. This is FAKE and FALSE. Please do not share such fake video/image and inciteful messages.” 

Alt News :  The viral video circulating on social media, which claimed to show a large number of people crossing the border following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) order, has been debunked by local authorities. The video, which was initially linked to the exodus of Bangladeshi nationals, actually depicts a crowd gathered for the immersion of a Kali idol in the Mathabhanga River in Nadia district, West Bengal.

Shikarpur is a village under Murutia police station area in the Karimpur II CD block of the Nadia district in West Bengal. It is famous for a Kali Puja which takes place at a locality called Funkatala, which is visited by thousands of people every year — not only locals, but those from far-off places. This is well documented.

We then contacted a local beautician whose contact number we found on Facebook. She told Alt News that the people seen in the video were going to witness the immersion of the Kali idol in the Mathabhanga River.

Mathabhanga is a transboundary river which originates from the Padma in Bangladesh and enters India at Gede in Nadia district, following which it bifurcates into Ichhamati and Churni. At Murutia, the river runs along the International Border.

To find out more about the viral video, we contacted the Murutia police station in-charge, SI Nirmalya Dutta.

Dutta confirmed that the video was from Funkatala and the people were going to Nimtala Ghat on the bank of the Mathabhanga, to witness the immersion of the Kali idol.

“The border fencing and gate were built earlier this year. So the video is from this year. The Kali Puja here draws thousands of people. A similarly large crowd attends the immersion. This has been going on for decades. This year, the gathering was a little smaller in comparison to previous years since the gate and fencing have been built,” Dutta added.

“The riverbank is only a few meters from the fence. Across the river lies Bangladesh. Earlier, people would gather on that side as well to witness the immersion, but this has stopped in the last few years. The Indian side now has a single-fence border and a gate. It was opened for Durga Puja immersion as well as for Kali Puja immersion.”

Dutta sent us a photo of the exact spot where the crowd had gathered. The border fencing, the black gate and the two iron poles next to it that are visible in the viral video can also be spotted in the photo.  

To sum up, the viral video of a crowd crossing through a border gate has nothing to do with SIR in West Bengal. It shows a Kali Puja immersion gathering in a village on the International Border in Nadia district.