Video from India shared claiming to show a crocodile attack on a woman in Kushtia
A video has spread on Facebook claiming to show a crocodile dragging a woman into the Gorai River in Kushtia. However, Dismislab’s fact-check found that the video is from the Indian state of Odisha, and has no connection with Bangladesh.
In the 9-second video circulating on social media, a crocodile is seen moving forward while holding a person in its mouth. One of the person’s hands is visible, wearing bangles. The video was filmed from above. The caption of the post reads, “A video of a crocodile dragging a woman away in the Gorai River of Kushtia has spread on social media Facebook.”
The same video was shared with the same claim from multiple Facebook profiles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
Keyframe search by Dismislab revealed a 7-second video on Facebook, which resembles the one that had spread, posted on the Times of India’s verified Facebook page on October 8. The caption read, “#Odisha. A 59-year-old woman was killed in the #Kharasrota River. Her body was found partially eaten by a saltwater #crocodile. The incident occurred while the woman was washing clothes.”
Several other Facebook pages (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) also shared the video, stating that it originated from India.
A keyword search found multiple (1, 2, 3, 4) media reports on the incident. The Times of India’s report also described the event. According to the report, the incident took place in the Kharasrota River in Odisha’s Jajpur forest area. The headline of the report was, “Woman’s half-eaten body recovered after crocodile attack.” The report said, “The body of a 59-year-old woman, killed in a saltwater crocodile attack, was recovered from the Kharasrota River near Bankupala village under the Jajpur forest range on Tuesday. The crocodile had eaten half of the body. The victim was identified as Saudamini Mahala. On Monday, while she was washing clothes and utensils in the river, the crocodile attacked and dragged her into the water. The incident later went viral on social media.”
According to the report, the woman was attacked on Monday, October 6, and her body was recovered the next day, Tuesday, October 7.
In other words, the video circulating with the claim that a crocodile dragged away a woman in Kushtia’s Gorai River is not from Bangladesh. It is from Odisha, India.
Disclaimer: The original version of this fact-check report was published in Bengali on Dismislab’s Bengali website on October 10, 2025. The English translation was completed later; however, to maintain time accuracy and avoid any potential misinterpretation, the English version has been published with the original publication date.
