Viral video falsely links 2022 cash seizure to Tamil Nadu elections
A video is going viral on social media claiming that a huge cache of cash was seized from Ritesh, a friend of DMK leader and Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin, before the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections on 23 April 2026. Let's verify the claim made in the post.
The Archived post can be seen here.
Claim: Footage showing a huge cache of cash seized from Ritesh, a friend of Udhayanidhi Stalin, during the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
Fact: This video actually shows Enforcement Directorate officials conducting raids at the residence of a mobile gaming businessman, Aamir Khan, in Kolkata in September 2022, where a large amount of cash was seized. There is no evidence that any money was seized from the godown of Udhayanidhi Stalin's friend Ritesh. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
On performing a reverse image search using the key frames of the viral video, we found the same footage in an article published by NDTV on 11 September 2022. The article mentions it as visuals of the Enforcement Directorate officials raiding the residence of a Kolkata-based businessman, Aamir Khan, who was promoting the 'E-Nuggets' mobile gaming app, and seizing a huge amount of cash.
Several news reports (here, here, here) from 2022 also stated that the Enforcement Directorate conducted searches at six locations linked to Aamir Khan in Kolkata and seized cash worth around ₹17 crore.
Further, there is no evidence to support the claim that a huge amount of money was seized from the godown of Udhayanidhi Stalin's friend Ritesh, as stated in the viral video. However, officials of the Election Commission of India have reported (here, here, here) that large amounts of cash and goods were seized from leaders of various political parties during the 2026 Tamil Nadu assembly elections.
To sum up, an unrelated video is being shared as showing money seized from Udhayanidhi Stalin's friend Ritesh during the 2026 Tamil Nadu elections.
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