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A video of a man successfully flying a self-built aircraft has gone viral on Indian social media and been featured in news reports, but the claims of its origin and creator are completely false. The inventor of the single-seater plane is a Bangladeshi man, not an Indian teenager from Bihar as widely reported.
The video, which shows a small aircraft taking off with people running behind it, has been circulating across platforms like X, Facebook, and Instagram since late July. A widely shared post on X claimed, "BREAKING. A teenager Avnish Kumar from Muzaffarpur, Bihar has built a flying plane in just one week, using only junk material." It further asserted the plane was built for a mere 7,000 Indian rupees (approximately USD 79), praising the "talent in India."
This misinformation was not limited to social media. Several Indian news outlets also picked up the story, repeating the false claim and using visuals from the video. These reports fueled a wave of nationalistic comments, with users celebrating what they believed was a grassroots innovation from India. Comments such as, "Innovation takes flight in Bihar. Young minds in a village turned scrap into a working aircraft -- and it actually flew!" and "Bihari brothers are not only hardworking but also possess remarkable intelligence and resourcefulness," flooded the comment sections.
However, a reverse image search and direct confirmation from the inventor himself have revealed the truth. The aircraft was built and flown in Jafarganj, Bangladesh. The video was originally shared on a Bangladeshi Facebook page in June. This incident is just one example of a recurring pattern where achievements from Bangladesh are falsely appropriated and presented as Indian accomplishments to promote a narrative of Indian dominance and exceptionalism. Such false claims not only mislead the public but also undermine the genuine ingenuity and hard work of inventors in neighboring countries like Bangladesh.
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