Fact Check: No, Pappu Yadav has not declared loyalty to Lawrence Bishnoi; viral news card is edited

Hyderabad: After NCP leader Baba Siddique’s murder, reportedly by the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, Bihar’s Purnia MP Pappu Yadav publicly challenged Bishnoi. He declared that he could finish Bishnoi’s criminal network within 24 hours if given the chance, calling them ‘insignificant criminals.’

Soon after, Yadav reportedly received a threat from someone claiming ties to the Bishnoi gang, warning him to stay out of issues involving Salman Khan, who previously has been a target of the gang.

In this context, a digital news channel DB Live allegedly reported that Pappu Yadav expressed loyalty to Lawrence Bishnoi, stating that a journalist had provoked him into making threats against Bishnoi.

“Because of a low-life journalist’s provocation, I threatened Lawrence Bhai, but in reality, I am loyal to Lawrence Bhai. From tomorrow, I will cut off all food and drinks for that despicable journalist (translated from Hindi),” DB Live allegedly quoted Yadav in a news card. A social media user shared the news card on X.(Archive)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim was false as the news card was edited. The original news card shows Yadav talking about the Dalits and Adivasis of Jharkhand.

We conducted a keyword search to verify reports of Pappu Yadav declaring loyalty to Lawrence Bishnoi but found no relevant news articles. Additionally, a scan through DB Live’s YouTube channel showed no such report.

To verify the authenticity of the viral news card, we went through all the posts on the channel’s X account and found discrepancies.

The font used by the media outlet on their news cards was different from the font on the viral news card. Additionally, the number ‘7870’ on the top right side of the news card raised further questions; none of the news cards on the media outlet’s X account contained any numbers on them.

Further, we found only one news card made by the outlet on Pappu Yadav which contained the same image as seen in the viral card. The original news card carried a Hindi quote by Pappu Yadav which said, “The Dalits and Adivasis of Jharkhand stand behind Rahul Gandhi.”