Shortly after the deadly ambush by Maoists at security personnel in the Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh on Saturday, an apparent newspaper clipping went viral with the allegation that a BJP leader had been arrested in connection with the incident.
Several Facebook users posted the alleged screenshot with an image of soldiers carrying a coffin and a Hindi caption saying: ’24 martyrs, 31 injured in attack in Naxal in Bijapur in Chhattisgarh ‘.
Apart from details about the ambush, the picture surrounded a smaller head in the red, saying that two people, including a BJP leader, had been arrested. Netizens share the picture with the caption, “BJP’s Naxal connection”.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the viral image is a modified page layout of ‘enavabharat.com’. Two people, including a local BJP leader, were arrested in Chhattisgarh last year for aiding Maoists. The incident has nothing to do with the recent ambush in Bijapur, where more than 20 Javanese lost their lives.
The archived versions of the posts are stored here and here.
WHAT DID FIND OUT
The newspaper clipping screenshot has recent news about the Bijapur Maoist attack that took place on April 3rd. The photo of soldiers holding a coffin of a martyr colleague was tweeted by the news agency ANI the next day.
As the headline is attributed to “Navabharat News Network”, we searched for recent issues of “enavabharat.com” and found the original page (http://epaper.enavabharat.com/article-05-April-2021-mumbai -edition-navabharat-mum / 1-4 /) of the e-paper published on April 5 has a similar layout. If we compare the original page with the viral image, we found that the latter is changed. In the viral image, one of the columns was replaced by an old news clip.
ORIGINAL PAGE
VIRAL IMAGE
The news of the arrest of two men in Chhattisgarh, including the son of a former BJP MLA, as seen in the viral image, is an old incident reported by several news sites last year.
According to these reports, a local BJP leader and another person in the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh were arrested on charges of aiding Maoists. The accused, Jagat Pujari and Ramesh Usendi, were arrested after purchasing a tractor to deliver it to a Maoist leader. Pujari was the vice president of BJP’s Dantewada unit and also the son of former BJP MLA Dhaniram Pujari.
Until the time this story was published, no political connection had been established in the ambush of Bijapur. Therefore, it is confirmed that an altered image of a newspaper clipping is being spread to falsely claim a BJP link after the horrific attack.
ClaimAccording to news reports, two people, including a BJP leader, were arrested from Chhattisgarh in connection with the recent Mao attack in Bijapur.ClosureThe viral image of “enavabharat.com” is changing. The old news article from last year about the arrest of a BJP leader for Maoist links has nothing to do with the recent attack in Bijapur.
JHOOTH BOLE KAUVA KAATE
The number of crows determines the intensity of the lie.
- 1 Crow: Half true
- 2 crows: mostly lies
- 3 crows: absolutely false
