On February 24, a man identified as Shahrukh opened fire at police staff during an incident of violence in North East Delhi. In a Riot like situation, many civilians were reported to have lost their lives. However, several media platforms circulated a false claim that the shooter was Anurag Mishra and not Shahrukh. One amongst them was NDTV’s popular anchor Ravish Kumar.
Ravish Kumar Misinformed
In NDTV’s popular show ‘Prime Time’, Ravish Kumar while speaking on the February 24th shooting event, said that the man armed with a gun was ‘Anurag Mishra’ and not Mohammad Shahrukh. Ravish also claimed that police had not arrested him even though in reality he was arrested on 25th February itself, 24 hours before Ravish’s show was aired.
He said, “The position of Police is such that they have not yet captured the accused. Police say his name is Shahrukh but if you believe me, social media thinks it’s ‘Anurag Mishra.”
For Fact-checkers who think this is a mischievously edited video, here's the full video link published by NDTV. You will get the relevant clip from 24th minute onwards. Ravish draws in Anurag Mishra without due diligence. It could have destroyed his careerhttps://t.co/4TN192yDtO
— Soumyadipta (@Soumyadipta) February 27, 2020
Earlier on 25th, Police had confirmed the gunman as Mohammad Shahrukh, the man who was wearing a red t-shirt and was armed with a gun. He was seen braving a Delhi Police officer, threatening him and forcing him to back off with his hands raised before firing frequently into the air.
Despite police declaring about the accused, Ravish went on supporting the social media claim which was fake.
Fake news
Hand in hand Social media was also involved in spreading fake news. Some media components had attempted to claim that the man being identified as Shahrukh was actually “Anurag Mishra”. Shahrukh’s picture from the day of the incident was being shared along with the profile pictures of a user called Anurag Mishra.
After the fake news went viral, Anurag Mishra himself came out and made a statement denouncing the event. He said that he is very disappointed that some people are using his name to make a false story. He would, however, take serious action and register a police complaint against those.
https://twitter.com/BBTheorist/status/1232923736526987265
This is Anurag Mishra. Shame on you Ravish Kumar your lies are affecting life of an innocent hindu. pic.twitter.com/ea8GFoIXCA
— Chota Don (@choga_don) February 27, 2020
