Fact Check: False statement attributed to journalist Ravish Kumar goes viral
A post attributing Ravish Kumar is widely being shared on social media.
By Tejal Sinha Published on 12 Dec 2021 4:01 AM GMT
Hyderabad: A post attributing Ravish Kumar is widely being shared on social media.
It is being claimed that Ravish Kumar had questioned the presence of Madhulika Rawat, wife of CDS Gen Bipin Rawat, in the chopper that crashed in Tamil Nadu's Coonoor.
Fact Check
The claim is False.
NewsMeter began its investigation by performing a keyword search. However, we did not find any such statement given by Ravish Kumar. No such statement was published either by any mainstream media or was present on a credible social media post.
The team then searched the social media handles of Ravish Kumar. The team found a post uploaded on the Facebook page of Ravish Kumar on December 08, 2021.
"The news of the demise of Chief Defence President General Bipin Rawat is shocking. The information that the helicopter of three three army chiefs crashed must have made the government and the defense institutions endure. This Mi series helicopter is considered to be very reliable. The government will find out the reasons for the accident but this accident held my breath all day long. Seeing the condition of the accident site, hope started to break in the evening. At last, the Indian Air Force has officially announced the news. Even Madhulika Rawat, the life partner of General Rawat, could not escape in this accident. They used to work for cancer. Brigadier LS Leader, SM, VSM, Lieutenant Colonel Harjinder Singh, Naik Gursewak Singh, Naik Jitendra Kumar, Lance Naik Vivek Kumar, Lance Naik B Sai Teja, and Havaldar Satpal were also on the ride in this helicopter. Everyone has died. Group captain Vern Singh is seriously injured and is undergoing treatment. Praying for their best. Don't know how many memories of these incidents will be carved for the soldiers' families. Very sad news," reads the post.
The team then found a video of 'The Prime Time Show' that is hosted by Ravish Kumar. The video was aired on the YouTube channel of 'NDTV' on December 08, 2021. The description of the video read, "A helicopter carrying India's first Chief of Defense Staff General Bipin Rawat crashed in Tamil Nadu today. In which he and his wife Madhulika Rawat passed away. When this news came around 12.22 pm today, there was silence in the government and defense establishments."
Nowhere in the video, can he be heard making any such disparaging statement.
The team lastly found a video news report on the YouTube channel of Hindustan Live on December 09, 2022.
The description of the video reads, "Ravish Kumar's statement regarding CDS Bipin Rawat is being viral on social media, which is completely false. Many people have posted on social media that Ravish Kumar has questioned the CDS Bipin Rawat's wife sitting in the helicopter. Ravish Kumar has called the news to be completely false."
According to the video news report, Ravish Kumar refuting the viral posts said that he has not written any such statement in any of his social media handles. People have believed these posts. They need to watch the prime-time shows related to the unfortunate demise of CDS Bipin Rawat, his wife and other staff.
It is therefore evident that the viral claim is false. Ravish Kumar had not given any such statement.
