Congress, BJP trade charges on PM Modi shooting for film at Corbett 3 hours after Pulwama attack

UPDATE:Times Fact Check had earlier delivered a verdict on this story based on the response it received from the government on Congress' charges. However, the Fact Check team was unable to independently verify claims from both sides and as such our original verdict on this issue was premature. We are therefore reissuing this story with an update.
CONGRESS' CLAIM
The Congress Party accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of shooting for a film at the Corbett National Park on February 14, “three hours after the Pulwama terror attack took place”.
“When the entire country was mourning the deaths of the jawans, Prime Minister Modi was shooting for a film at the Corbett National Park and indulging in a boat ride to look at crocodiles,” Scroll.in quoted the Congress as saying. “This film shooting went on till 6.30 pm that day. He had tea and snacks at 6.45 pm. It is horrific that till four hours after such an attack, Modi was busy with his own branding, photoshoot and snacks.”
Addressing a press conference, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also claimed that the “attack happened at 3:10 pm” on February 14. He apparently used a newspaper clipping to make these claims. He also said PM Modi was enjoying snacks at the Rampur guest house.

Further criticizing the “misplaced priorities” of the Modi government in the wake of the terror attack, Surjewala flashed pictures of Modi taking a boat ride and claimed that for the prime minister, the “lust for power” holds more significance than soldiers. He also claimed that all this happened “four hours” after the attack.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi tweeted some more photos of Modi today and claimed that the “Prime Time Minister” was indulging in a river photoshoot after the attacks. Gandhi, generous than Surjewala, claimed that it happened “three hours” after the attack.

Taking a cue, Twitter accounts with huge following, used sarcasm to attack Modi.

Surjewala also said that the prime minister should have held a cabinet committee meet to address national security immediately after the attack.
"Can such a conduct be expected from the prime minister of a country? The prime minister should have been chairing the cabinet committee on security immediately and should have taken action, instead of shooting films," he said, as quoted by Economic Times.
GOVERNMENT'S RETORT
The government denied almost all claims made by the Congress
1. Modi was not shooting at Corbett at 6:30 pm or three or four hours after the attack.
We reached out to the government for clarification on how Modi’s schedule panned out on February 14.
“Modi did a short shoot for tourism promotion and climate change awareness with Discovery and was heading to Rudrapur for a public meeting. As the news of the attack started trickling in around 4 pm, he was making his way from Corbett to Rudrapur,” government sources told Times Fact Check.
2. The blast time is not 3:10 pm (as claimed by Congress) but 3:33 pm as mentioned in this Economic Times report.

Therefore, points one and two make it clear that it took only 25 minutes for Modi to wind up his prior commitments.
3. The pictures of Modi taking the boat ride were clicked well before the attack. A similar photo was tweeted at 1:52 pm on February 14 by Twitter user Vishwaketu Vaid. As per his bio, he is the legislative assembly social media coordinator for BJP, Nainital.

It is clear that Modi’s boat ride was before the Pulwama terror attack.
4. Modi could not have chaired a cabinet committee right after the attack as he was not in Delhi, but in Uttarakhand. His itinerary was pre-decided. However, he held several review meetings even while he was in Uttarakhand’s Rampur, said the government sources.
Cutting short his trip, Modi flew back to Delhi from Barielly airport within hours from the news of the terror attack.
“From 4 to 4:45 pm, Modi held constant review calls and meetings to gauge the situation. He was constantly monitoring and reviewing the unfolding situation, which is why the public meeting in Rudrapur (a part of his original itinerary) kept getting delayed. He eventually decided not to go despite a huge crowd gathering there. He had a change of plan and decided to address the gathering on the phone around 5:15 pm for some 5-7 minutes.
After this, he immediately left for Bareilly via road to take a flight back to Delhi from there. A decision was taken to have another review after an hour. So, PM halted at a rest house in Ramnagar and again reviewed the situation and gave the needful orders. After this second review meeting, PM left for Bareilly by road and then took a flight to Delhi at night,” confirmed the government sources.
VERDICT
Times Fact Check is not in a position to deliver a verdict in this case, so it is merely placing here the points made by both sides.