2022 video of BJP candidate Navneet Rana shared as her breaking down after election loss

The claim

A video of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) candidate Navneet Rana crying inconsolably is being shared on social media with a claim that she broke down after the results of the Indian general elections were announced on June 4. The video shows Rana lying on a hospital bed and being consoled by her husband, Ravi Rana. 

She was contesting from western Indian state of Maharashtra’s Amravati constituency and lost the seat to Indian National Congress’ (INC) Balwant Wankhede.

One user (archived here) on X (formerly Twitter) shared the video and wrote, “Navneet Rana, who used to spew venom from the stage, after losing (Translated from Hindi).” The post had garnered 79,000 views on the platform at the time of writing this story. The video is also being shared on Facebook with similar claims and the archived versions of those can be viewed here, here, and here.

Screenshot of viral posts circulating on social media. (Source: X/Facebook/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, we found that the video is from May 2022 when Rana was admitted to Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital after she was released from Byculla Jail. 

What did we find?

We could notice the logo of ‘News 18’ on the top right corner of the video. Using this as a cue, we searched for the video and found that the same clip was uploaded on CNN News 18’s (archived here) official YouTube channel on May 5, 2022. The video report mentioned that it showed Rana breaking down after she met her husband in the hospital, where she was admitted for her spondylosis treatment.

We also found a news report published by Hindi-language newspaper Navbharat Times on May 5, 2022. The report included multiple pictures showing Rana on the hospital bed. The description mentioned that Rana was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai after being released from the Byculla women’s jail.

One of the images included in the Navbharat Times report. Text translated to English. (Source: Navbharat Times/Screenshot)

The Rana couple was arrested on April 23, 2022, after they gave a call to recite Hanuman Chalisa outside then Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s residence in Bandra, Mumbai. Navneet Rana later secured bail and received treatment after her release.

The verdict

An old video of Naveen Rana on a hospital bed is now being shared as her breaking down after being defeated in the 2024 Indian general elections.