Fake News Alert: Viral Image Of CRPF Jawan Killed In Pulwama Attack Is Of The Wrong Man
In an absolutely abhorrent, cowardly attack in Awantipora, Pulwama in Kashmir, India lost its 40 bravest Jawans. Barely a few hours after the attack, the social media has been deluged with the fake images and videos pertaining to the incident.
One such fake image that has gone viral is a photo of CRPF jawan claiming he is one of the 40 martyrs of the deadly Pulwama attack. The message on the photo circulated on the social media reads, “Salute to Mijing Basumatary from Assam & all other bravehearts who lost their lives on the line of duty. Heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families & prayers for injured ones. This gruesome act of cowardice is strongly condemnable.”
Several Twitter handles shared the photo of Miiing Basumatary's saying that he was killed in the Pulwama attack.
Salute to brave hearts from #Assam Mijing Basumatary #PulwanaAttack . RIP pic.twitter.com/yT14DMEkHY
— Gati News (@gati_news) February 15, 2019
#martyr #CRPF #iedblast
— Indian Military Updates (@MilitaryUpdate_) February 15, 2019
HC/GD M Basumatary Of CRPF's 98thBn Martyred In IED Blast In Pulwama...He Was from Assam’s Udalguri District...
Rest In Peace Brother...#Pulwama #PulwamaTerrorAttack #KashmirTerrorAttack pic.twitter.com/fOQfLBAE0X
However, Mizing dispelled all the rumours and shared a photo on Facebook saying he is very much alive...
He said, "This is fake news... I am requesting you all... please don't share this fake message."
This is how we found out that the image is fake
We did a Google Reverse Image Search on Mizing's photo and discovered that the same photo was shared multiple times with caption "Salute to brave hearts from #Assam Mijing Basumatary #PulwamaAttack #RIP"
Then we used a tool People Find Thor and using its filters we found out the exact profile of Mijing Basumatary. His name is spelled "Mizing" and not "Mijing". We found the actual profile of Mizing Basumatary and his post in which he requested people not to share the rumours of his death.
We also checked the list of martyred CRPF jawans who died in the deadly Pulwama attack and Mizing Basumatary's name was not in the list.
Tools we used to identify the video was fake:
1. People Find Thor
2. Google Reverse Image Search
3. Twitter Advanced Search
4. Facebook Search
