Fact-Check: Viral image of Trishul Formation on the eve of Mahashivratri 2025, is a digital creation.

The last day of Mahakumbh Mela 2025 concluded on the day of Mahashivratri when thousands of devotees thronged Triveni Sangam in Prayaraj to perform sacred rituals and take a holy dip in the confluence of the rivers. Meanwhile, an image showing a formation of Trident or Trishul is going viral on social media platform X (formerly Twitter). Users sharing an image of Trishul formation in the sky, have claimed that on the eve of the Mahashivratri, three Sukhoi aircraft made the shape of a Trishul in the sky of Prayagraj.

A user named Navin Kumar shared this image on X and claimed: “The Indian Air Force in Prayagraj mesmerized people with a spectacular air show on the eve of Mahashivratri. Now a photo of this has surfaced in which 3 Sukhoi jet planes have formed the trident of Lord Shiva in the sky”

Furthermore, several users this image and made similar claims. The preview link can be seen here and here.

Fact-Check

To investigate the viral image and the claim, the DFRAC team reverse-searched the viral image using Google Lens and found that the image had been shared earlier also.

For further investigation, we searched some keywords on Google related to the claim and found some videos on YouTube showing the formation of Trident or Trishul in the sky as part of various Republic day celebrations.

However, a close examination revealed that the visuals shown in the video were not similar to the above viral image.

Moreover, no such news about the Sukhoi-30s’ ‘Trishul’ formation in the Mahakumbh mela has been found making headlines in the mainstream media but the latest report by NBT stated that the air show in the Mahakumbh mela, with the sky-high flight of fighter planes, thrilled the audience. The Air Force planes showed their stunts with discipline and precision, filling the entire sky with mesmerizing views. During this, Sukhoi fighter planes performed various types of aerial stunts. The brave pilots of the Air Force performed such acrobatics in the air, seeing which the devotees were thrilled.

Taking our investigation to another level, we examined this image using foto forensics, a web-based verification tool which concluded that it is a digital creation.

Conclusion

It is clear from DFRAC‘s fact-check that the viral image of Trident formation is digitally created, not the real one. Additionally, there is no truth in the claim shared through the viral image. Hence, the viral image shared with the claim alleging that Trishul’s formation in the sky of Prayajraj on the eve of the Mahashivratri, is fake.

Analysis: Misleading