TV anchor Deepak Chaurasia, who was exposed by Janta Ka Reporter, for posting fake news in the Kerala elephant’s death case, has expressed his regrets for the mischievous act. In a rare confession of guilt, Chaurasia said that he realised the importance of trustworthiness for a ‘journalist.’
The controversial TV anchor wrote in Hindi, “A wrong information was posted from my Twitter account in the death of a Kerala elephant. As soon as the real truth emerged, I deleted my tweet. I am a journalist and trustworthiness is very important for me. Meanwhile, I express my regrets if I hurt anyone.”
केरल में हथिनी विनायकी के मामले में मेरे अकाउंट पर एक गलत जानकारी ट्वीट कर दी गई। जैसे ही सही तथ्य सामने आया मैंने उस ट्वीट को डिलीट कर दिया। मै एक पत्रकार हूं और उसकी विश्वसनीयता ही सबकुछ होती है। अगर इस दौरान किसी को मेरी बात से कष्ट हुआ है तो मुझे खेद है।
— Deepak Chaurasia (@DChaurasia2312) June 14, 2020
As exposed by Janta Ka Reporter, Deepak Chaurasia of News Nation TV was caught spreading fake news by dangerously adding communal colour to the elephant death case in Kerala.
In his infamous tweet (now deleted), Chaurasia had claimed that two people responsible for feeding the Kerala elephant pineapple filled with crackers were Muslims. He had even cooked up two imaginary Muslim names. This was even before the officials in Kerala released the name of those arrested for killing the elephant.
Chaurasia’s tweet in Hindi had read, “Two people have been arrested in Kerala’s pregnant elephant’s murder case. Amjad Ali and Tamim Shaikh have been arrested in relation to the murder. Strict action should be taken against these accused.”
Hours later, the government-owned Doordarshan News tweeted informing how the Kerala Police had arrested one person in connection with the elephant murder case and the individual had been identified as one ‘Wilson.’
After the fact-check by Janta Ka Reporter, Chaurasia had deleted his controversial tweet.
The Hindutva brigade had first falsely blamed Muslims for the murder of the elephant when they ran a campaign to highlight a ‘Muslim dominated’ Mallapuram district as the place of the incident. They were left red-faced after Janta Ka Reporter ran a fact-check conclusively proving that the place where the pregnant elephant had died was in Palakkad, around 80 kms away from Mallapuram.
