India's Kumbh Mela festival attracts tens of millions of Hindu faithful to Prayagraj in northern Uttar Pradesh state, but footage of an elderly monk making an offering at a shrine that circulated online is unrelated.

A video spread online shows an annual stone-pelting ritual in northern India, contrary to claims by social media posts that presented it as Hindu pilgrims attacking each other at the Kumbh Mela mega-festival.

View of devotees at India’s Maha Kumbh Mela after casualties reported Thousands of ash smeared Hindu holy men lead millions of devotees to take a dip in the icy waters of the holy rivers Ganga Yamuna and Saraswati during the second "Shahi Snan" (royal bath) to mark Mauni Amawasya,

Police in India's northern Uttar Pradesh state dismissed rumours shared thousands of times on social media that they had arrested a Muslim man who dressed as a Hindu monk in an apparent bid to attack the Hindu mega-festival Kumbh Mela.