From misinformation around Kolkata's rape and murder case, misleading claims around Netflix show IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack to unrelated visuals being linked to Gujarat floods, here are the viral pieces of misinformation that we debunked this week.
1. Did Netflix Show 'Whitewash' Religion of Hijackers of Indian Flight IC 814?
Following the release of the IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack, a post is doing the rounds on social media platforms claiming that the attackers were misidentified in the television series.
X (formerly Twitter) user Rishi Bagree, who has been previously called out for spreading misinformation, shared a post sharing the original names of the hijackers.
He then claimed that the television series depicted the hijackers as 'Bhola' and 'Shankar'.
Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) IT Cell in-charge Amit Malviya – who has previously been caught peddling disinformation also shared a similar claim.
However, the viral claim lacks proper context.
While the five hijackers of the aircraft were identified as Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim, and Shakir.
But, these hijackers addressed one another by aliases that were found to be — Chief, Doctor, Burger, Bhola, and Shankar.
Read our fact-check here.
2. No, This Video Doesn’t Show Crocodiles Recently Swimming in Gujarat
A video of around five crocodiles swimming in water is being shared on social media platforms with users claiming that it shows recent visuals from Gujarat's Vadodara.
Along with social media users, media organisations like NDTV, Zee Business, and Navbharat Times published the video with a similar claim.
Popular Instagram handle called 'Viralbhayani' shared the same video, identifying the location as Vishwamitri river. This claim has garnered a significant traction with over 10 million views on the platform. However, the video has now been taken down.
However, the claims are false as the viral video has no connection to Gujarat or India.
It could be traced back to at least August of this year and was captured in Australia's Kimberley.
Read our fact-check here.
3. Republic TV Shares Old, Unrelated Image Linking to Manipur Violence
On 3 September, Editor-in-chief of Republic TV Arnab Goswami hosted a debate talking about a drone attack in Manipur and alleged foreign involvement in the same.
Using multiple images, Goswami said, "Ladies and gentlemen, look at these pictures. This picture is of the ITLF drone squad. They issued a press release against me today. This was recovered in the month of October 2023. A drone was seized by the Manipur police and from the memory card, this footage was recovered. This establishes that they are running a drone squad. This was submitted to the court by some parties during the hearing on Manipur violence..."
Here's the problem: The second image used in the debate bulletin had no connection to India, let alone Manipur.
It could be traced back to 2007 and showed eight Qassam launchers.
These Qassam launchers are artillery rockets developed by the military arm of Hamas.
Read our fact-check here.
4. This Image Doesn’t Show Sandip Ghosh Posing Next to Kolkata Accused Sanjay Roy
An image of former principal of RG Kar Medical College Sandip Ghosh is being shared to claim that it shows him sitting next to Sanjay Roy, who is the main accused in the rape and murder case of the young female doctor.
Those sharing the image have uploaded it with a caption that said, "Kolkata horror accused celebrated his birthday in Ex Principal Sandip Ghosh office."
Media organisation Republic World, too, shared the image with a similar claim on their website.
However, the claim is false. The man seen cutting a cake in the viral image was identified as Prasun Chatterjee and not Sanjay Roy.
Chatterjee was a data operator at the Calcutta National Medical & Hospital and a part-time personal assistant for Ghosh.
Read our fact-check here.
5. Fact-Check: Fake Opinion Poll Showing Congress Lead in Haryana Goes Viral!
With the state assembly elections in Haryana right around the corner, an opinion poll graphic attributed to Republic-Matrize shared on social media purports to show the Congress party's lead over the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Based on the data from the purported opinion poll, the BJP is expected to win 26-36 seats, while the Indian National Congress (INC) is predicted to secure 35-40 seats. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is projected to obtain 15-20 seats, with other parties likely to win 0-2 seats.
The graphic was shared by AAP spokesperson Nyvaan Sharma.
However, the claim is false as this graphic is fake.
Republic-Matrize has not published any opinion poll that projects Congress's lead in the Haryana assembly elections.
Read our fact-check here.
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