Dead Monk 'Smiling' Even 100 Years After Death? Here's a Fact Check as Fake News Goes Viral

New Delhi, September 20: Was the dead body of a monk found "smiling" even 100 years after his death? A social media post claiming so has gone viral on several mediums, including Twitter and Facebook. Those sharing the claim post the image of dead body along with a caption stating that it was exhumed after a period of hundred years. Here's a fact-check as the fake news has went viral. Facebook Sues Indian Techie for Running Deceptive Ads, Fake News on Coronavirus.

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Claim: According to viral posts shared on social media, the body is of a monk whose body was preserved nearly a century ago in Mongolia. After it was recovered and exhumed, the dead body was still found smiling. One of the archived posts spreading the fake news can be checked here.

"A mummified monk from around 100 years ago became news on websites around the world. According to some buddhist, he's still alive and is in a deep state of meditation. The body was found in the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia," read the caption of another Twitter post whose archived version can be checked here.

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Fake News Shared on Twitter

Fact-Check

On reverse-checking the image on Google, links to several credible media reports were found which claimed that the body is of Luang Phor Pian, who died in Bangkok in November 2017. Two months after his death, Pian's followers exhumed his body to replace the robe as part of a Buddhist ritual. The image that is now going viral was clicked then. It showed a smile on Pian's face even two months after his death. Followers of the revered monk claimed that it was due to his state of meditation.