Clipping Edited to Claim BJP Leader Held for Bijapur Naxal Attack

The news pertaining to the arrest of BJP leader Jagat Pujari and his aide is from June 2020.

A newspaper clipping of Hindi daily, NavaBharat has been edited to falsely claim that a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader was arrested in connection to the recent Naxal attack in Bijapur, Chhattisgarh.

Further, we found that the news – mentioned in the viral clip – pertains to the arrest of BJP leader Jagat Pujari and his aide, and is from June 2020.

CLAIM

The clipping was shared by several users on Facebook and Twitter taking a dig at the BJP.

You can view archived versions of similar posts here and here.

Website, Samachar Darshan also carried the text of the viral clipping verbatim.

WHAT WE FOUND

Since the viral clipping contained the words, ‘NavaBharat News Network’ we went through the e-papers of NavaBharat, a Hindi daily published in Central India.

We found the same headline and text in the edition for 5 April.

The headline reads, “छत्तीसगढ़ के बीजापुर में नक्सली अटैक 24 शहीद 31 घायल” (Translation: “Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur; 24 Martyred, 31 Injured”).

While the sub-header, “20 से अधिक हथियार लूटे” (Translation: “More than 20 weapons looted”) is also the same, the second sub-header, “BJP नेता समेत 2 गिरफ्तार” (Translation: “Two arrested including BJP leader”) is missing in the original clipping. It instead reads, “2,059 जवान थे हिडमा की तलाश में” (Translation: “2,059 soldiers were on a search for Hidma”).

A comparison of the original clipping with the viral one can be seen below.

BUT THEN WHAT ABOUT THE NEWS OF A BJP LEADER BEING ARRESTED?

In June 2020, a BJP leader Jagat Pujari and his accomplice Ramesh Usendi were arrested for helping out Naxalites.

The Chhattisgarh police arrested the duo from a conflict-ridden Dantewada for allegedly supplying a tractor and other goods to Maoist commander Ajay Alami, who carried a Rs 5 lakh reward on his arrest, reported NDTV and The New Indian Express, at the time.

Evidently, a year-old incident has been revived to falsely claim that a BJP leader was arrested in connection to the recent Naxal attack in Bijapur.

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