Lighthouse Journalism came across a video being shared widely on social media platforms. The posts claimed that the Indian authorities had reportedly demolished a 136-year old Gauripur Jama Masjid inside Kolkata airport to make way for expansion of second runway.
During the investigation we found the claim to be misleading. The viral video being shared was old and from Bangladesh.
Claim:
Instagram user Al-Estiklal English shared the video and the claim.
Other users are also sharing the same video with similar claims on social media platforms.
Investigation:
We started the investigation by running a keyword search.
We found a few news reports on the mosque.
In May, this year fresh efforts to shift the mosque next to the secondary runway at Kolkata airport gained momentum in the state government. An inspection of the mosque was carried out followed by a meeting between the state administration and mosque representatives to press for the relocation of the mosque, which is situated deep inside the airport operational area.
According to another report in July 2026 entry to the 136-year-old Bankra mosque has been stopped indefinitely. Airport authorities cited security concerns over allowing access solely on the basis of Aadhar cards.
However, we could not find any report stating that the mosque had been demolished.
We then checked the images of the mosque, none of the pictures featured online had blue colored tiles.
We then ran reverse image search on the keyframes obtained from the video.
We found a Facebook video with similar visuals.
The caption read: BNP leader Mostafa’s house is being demolished by angry people. The house of the main accused in the Pabna Sadar Kulunia Gajaria Koli murder case. This BNP leader Mostafa rapes Koli, keeps her in pieces, and fills her bag!!
When justice is not served, the rapists’ houses should be demolished like this.
We also found a report from September 18 with visuals similar to those being shared.
The report stated: Local residents attacked and vandalized the house of Mustafa Pramanik, the main accused in the rape and murder of third-grade schoolgirl Kamrunnahar Koli (10), in Pabna. The incident took place after Friday prayers in Kulunia village of Dogachi union in Pabna Sadar upazila on Friday (September 18).
We found a few more news reports on the same.
We also found a video report about the same.
Conclusion: An unrelated video of a mob demolishing a house in Bangladesh is being shared as recent from India with claims that it shows the demolition of the 136-year-old mosque near Kolkata airport. The viral claim is misleading.
