Indian ‘Spying Quadcopter’ Shot Down by Nepal Army? Fake Alert!

The claim which comes amid escalating tension between India and Nepal is absolutely false.

A viral image from 2017 is being shared on various social media platforms with a false claim that it shows an Indian spying quadcopter shot down by the Nepalese army.

(Photo: Twitter/Altered by The Quint)

A viral image from 2017 is being shared on various social media platforms with a false claim that it shows an Indian spying quadcopter shot down by the Nepalese army in Darkachua along the India-Nepal border.

THE CLAIM

The image was shared on Twitter by a handle with username Irmak Idoya with a claim that the Indian quadcopter had intruded 90 meters into the Nepalese territory before it was shot down by the Nepal army.

“Nepal Army shot down an Indian spying quadcopter in Darkachua along India Nepal border. It Had intruded 90 meters in Nepal side of India-Nepal border (sic),” the claim read.

The image is also going viral on Facebook with the same misleading claim.

An archived version of the tweet can be accessed here.(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

An archived version of the post can be accessed here.(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

WHAT WE FOUND

A reverse image search using the Yandex search engine helped us find several news reports by Pakistan-based media outlets from 2017, which claimed that the aforementioned image is of an Indian drone shot down by the Pakistan army.

We also found a tweet dated 27 October 2017 by the official handle of the Spokesperson of the Pakistan armed forces claiming that an “Indian quadcopter spying across LOC in Rakhchikri sector (was) shot down by Pak Army shooters.”

However, the Indian Army had refuted this claim. According to a report in The Indian Express, the Army spokesperson was quoted as saying, “Some reports of a drone crash in PoK are being referred to. No drone or UAV crash of the Indian Army has taken place.”

While The Quint could not independently verify the image and where is it from, it is clear that it has been in existence before and is not of an Indian quadcopter shot down by the Nepalese army.

As tensions between India and Nepal escalate, several such claims have gone viral in the past few months. Earlier, The Quint had debunked a claim by the same handle (@Irmaknepal) stating that 7 Indian Army personnel were killed by the Nepal army in a ceasefire violation along the India-Nepal border.

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