Pakistan: Popular TikToker Adil Rajput fakes death with wife’s help, to gain followers

In an industry where the race to gain followers is never-ending, Pakistani TikToker Adil Rajput’s wife faked her husband's death in a bid to gain popularity on the video-sharing application on the morning of September 15. Upon finding out about the ‘prank’, social media users were left unamused.

The woman, who is a resident of the city of Rahim Yar Khan’s Rashidabad area, in the province of Punjab in Pakistan, uploaded a video from Rajput’s account where she was seen crying and sharing the news of her husband’s supposed death in a car accident with his followers.

A large number of grieving fans gathered outside their house after watching the video that went viral on social media in a few minutes of it being posted, according to Pakistani media reports.

Announcements were also made in nearby mosques.

Hundreds of posts of condolences were shared online.

Tweep @UmairModel shared a picture of Rajput and wrote: “Tiktoker #adilrajput is no more. May his soul rest in peace.”

However, it soon surfaced online that the incident was part of a prank and an effort by the couple to gain more followers.

Outraged social media users expressed their dismay and asked authorities to take action against the influencers.

Tweep @Tweety_Sweety10 wrote: “Dear 2020! You are still better than TikTokers #adilrajput.”

Twitter user @mishilicious posted: “Shameful that for a few likes and followers these kind of people are stooping so low and making a mockery of death. Shame on him and more on his wife. Now even it would be true in the future for anyone … forbid no one will take it seriously or believe it #adilrajput #FakeNews”

Seeing the intense public outrage, Rajput’s wife made another video, informing followers that her husband was alive and home.

Rajput has over 2.6 million followers on his official TikTok account.