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India Today
a day ago
- General
- India Today
Hiding behind fake profiles, people threaten to kill judge who denied Sharmishta Panoli bail
A Kolkata judge only denied bail to Sharmistha Panoli, a social media influencer accused of making communally-charged statements in a video. This enraged many, and they now want to issue a death warrant against the the bail rejection on June 3, anonymous accounts on X went after Justice Partha Sarathi Chatterjee of the Calcutta High Court — going so far as to say he deserved 'unknown gunmen'. This, of course, was a reference to Luigi Mangione, the American man accused of shooting and killing Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, in December last X user called Toshali wrote, "This scum bong - Partha Sarathi Chatterjee - deserves kambal some unknown need their unknown gunmen in that fear to seep in to such cretin judges." Another account with the username rohitkumar23595 replied, saying, "Kill Partha Sarathi Chatterjee." India Today Fact Check looked at the various threats being issued to the judge on X and found a common thread: these accounts were anonymous. They had no real profile pictures, using photos of animated characters, sportspersons, and even coins. Some of these accounts were created mere days ago in some accused the judge of corruption and alleged ties with West Bengal's ruling party, the Trinamool Congress, others crossed the line into explicit threats and attempts at account going by the name of Adi shared a link from the National Green Tribunal website containing the judge's bio. He wrote: 'Let's see if we can find his home address.' While the account claimed it was based in New York, we could not find any posts about the US city. All the posts seemed to be about Indian account, going by the name Rupesh Reddi, posted, 'Anyone know his address? Or mobile number? Please do share.'advertisementSome others encouraged mob violence veiled as 'public action'. A parody account featuring the profile photo of WWE wrestler Becky Lynch wrote: "Public should take care of him whenever he is spotted in public place." Another account wrote, "Prime time to set an example... That's all I will say. Off-topic: the French Revolution was a crazy moment in history, right?"The French Revolution, a period of political upheaval in France in the late 1700s, saw the public execution of many, including King Louis the bail plea hearing on June 3, Justice Chatterjee reportedly said, 'This video was made on social media, it was heard, and this incident has led to a section of people's sentiments being hurt.' This remark was not taken well by many accounts. One X user named Sentinel posted a cryptic note saying, "Well, let's hope it does not come to 'the judge should have thought of the consequences before denying bail', considering the threats she is under. What will he say then?"Sharmistha Panoli, the accused in the case, issued an unconditional apology and deleted the contentious video. Despite this, however, she was arrested after multiple FIRs were filed against her. The Calcutta High Court has since ordered the consolidation of all the FIRs into a single case. The matter is scheduled for a hearing on June Watch
India Today
2 days ago
- General
- India Today
Fact Check: NOT Op Spider's Web! ARMA 3 clip shared as Ukraine's attack on Russian aircraft
Under Operation Spider's Web, which was planned for more than a year and a half, a swarm of Ukrainian drones struck at least five military airbases deep inside Russia's borders. Per reports, the much-talked-about attack on June 1 left more than 40 Russian aircraft in this, a video allegedly showing the drone attack started making the rounds on social media. The clip showed several aircraft on fire as multiple explosions took place, seemingly at an air base. Drone-like objects could also be seen flying in the sky above. advertisementThose sharing the clip wrote, 'Breaking: Footage shows the destruction of Russian jets by Ukrainian drones.' Some news reports have even used a screenshot from this video in their reports about Ukraine's Op Spider's Web. India Today Fact Check, however, found that this is an 'Arma 3' video game PROBEReverse-searching keyframes from the viral clip led us to an extended version of it, shared on a YouTube channel on January 1, 2025. The description read: '40 Russian strategic bombers TU-95 destroyed in daring Ukrainian FPV-Drone swarm raid. Arma 3 Footage! Not real news!' This YouTube video is a compilation of multiple clips showing aerial attacks on aircraft using drones. This channel has posted a few other similar videos as well. All of these clips have a disclaimer in the description stating that 'these videos are made for entertainment and educational purposes in military simulator ARMA 3.'advertisementMultiple videos of Ukraine's Operation Spider's Web have surfaced on social media showing Russian aircraft on fire. However, the video in question is from Arma 3 and has nothing to do with Op Spider's is noteworthy that videos of Arma 3 gameplay have been shared in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war earlier as well. Our reports on such military simulation videos can be read here and Watch Want to send us something for verification? Please share it on our at 73 7000 7000 You can also send us an email at factcheck@
India Today
3 days ago
- Politics
- India Today
Fact Check: Russia's retaliation for Ukraine's Spider's Web? This video is from 2024
In a massive attack, Ukrainian drones targeted five Russian airbases and reportedly damaged over 40 military aircraft ahead of the Istanbul peace talks. Calling the operation 'brilliant', Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the preparations for it took over a year and a this, a video claiming to show Russia's retaliatory attack on Ukraine has gone viral on social media. The video shows airstrikes in what appears to be a residential area, causing huge fireballs and plumes of Notably, Russian shelling and air attacks killed five people outside the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, while a drone attack on the Sumy region injured at least six early on the morning of June the viral video on Facebook, one person wrote in Hindi, 'Russia's counterattack begins. Russia has started launching missile attacks on military and defence bases in many cities of Ukraine. Let's pray Russia doesn't use nuclear weapons.' An X user wrote, 'Update: Russia launches counterattacks on Kiev. Ukraine's drone barrage reportedly destroyed 40 Russian strategic bombers on their home bases. Russia retaliates by launching attacks on Ukraine's capital and 100+ military bases.'India Today Fact Check, however, found that the video dates back to July 2024 and does not show a recent Russian strike on PROBEadvertisementReverse-searching keyframes of the viral video led us to a July 2024 post containing the clip. This makes it evident that the video is old and does not depict a recent Russian attack. The post claimed that it was a Russian cruise missile attack on the Ukrainian capital of then found a Daily Mail video report uploaded to YouTube on July 9, 2024, which featured the viral clip. The description of the video stated that Russia, using Kh-101 missiles, hit several targets, including a hospital, in Ukraine's capital on July 8, 2024. According to an Associated Press report from the time, Russia conducted a massive missile attack, targeting five Ukrainian cities and damaging the country's largest children's hospital, Okhmatdyt. However, Russia denied attacking the hospital and said that it had only struck military targets. Russia used Kh-101 missiles in this attack, and Ukraine claimed to have shot down 11 of it is evident that an almost-year-old video is being falsely shared as a recent Russian retaliatory strike on Ukraine.(Written by Abhishek Pathak)Must Watch Want to send us something for verification? Please share it on our at 73 7000 7000 You can also send us an email at factcheck@
India Today
6 days ago
- Health
- India Today
Fact Check: Did a Kerala college mandate Quran reading before major events? Here's the truth
Amid the Karnataka government's move to form a special task force to tackle communal violence in districts like Mangalore, Udupi, and Shivamogga, a circular from Kerala has gone viral on social media. The circular, allegedly from a medical college in Kerala, mandates the recitation of the Quran at the start of all major campus circular mentions that major events such as convocations, annual days, and induction ceremonies should begin with a Quran recitation and that no other prayer song should substitute it. An X user shared the circular claiming that secularism in India was under threat because of shared this notice with hashtags like 'Breaking news'. The archives of two such posts can be seen here and here. India Today Fact Check found that the viral circular is not recent. It was issued by the Azeezia Medical College Hospital in Kerala's Kollam in 2019 and was retracted the very next day due to ProbeOne can clearly see that the date mentioned in it is April 18, 2019. A subsequent keyword search revealed that it was shared by many social media users in 2019. This makes it clear that the notice isn't recent at Times of India published a detailed report about this circular and the ensuing backlash on May 1, 2019. It said that the notice was withdrawn on April 19, 2019, just a day after it was issued, and the medical superintendent who issued it was removed from his post following the to The Times of India, Dr Hashim Azeez, the director of the Azeezia Group of Medical Institutions, clarified that the circular was issued without the concurrence of the management. He said that the college management did not impose religious restrictions on students and teachers, adding that their general practice was observing a silent Dialogues, a medical and health news platform, also reported the same information in its article about the incident at the time. The issue regarding the circular was reported by other websites as it's clear that an old circular, which was retracted by a Kerala medical college the day after it was issued, was falsely shared as InTrending Reel Want to send us something for verification? Please share it on our at 73 7000 7000 You can also send us an email at factcheck@
India Today
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- India Today
Fact Check: Straight out of Final Destination? Viral photo of theatre roof collapse is old
Life imitated art during a screening of the latest in the "Final Destination" franchise — a series of films about people dying in unlikely, horrible ways. On May 19, an Argentine woman's 29th birthday celebrations turned into a nightmare when the ceiling of the theatre collapsed during a "Final Destination Bloodlines" screening, causing more than just jump incident took place at Cinema Ocho in La Plata, the capital city of Argentina's Buenos Aires, possibly due to recent heavy rains. The woman, Fiamma Villaverde, escaped with a few injuries to her legs, back, and photo, allegedly from this incident, has now gone viral on social media with even a few news outlets using it while reporting the incident. The photo showed the movie still rolling as a firefighter looks at the broken ceiling, debris from which lies in front of the big screen. Many shared the photo on social media with the caption: "The ceiling collapsed in a theatre during screening of new 'Final Destination' movie". India Today Fact Check found that the viral photo is from Washington in the US, when the ceiling of a theatre collapsed during the screening of "Captain America: Brave New World" on February PROBEReverse searching the photo led us to an NBC News report dated February 27, which stated that the viral photo was from the Liberty Cinema in Wenatchee, Washington. The ceiling of the theatre collapsed on February 25, when just two people were watching "Captain America: Brave New World", Marvel's latest addition to the "Captain America" franchise. No injuries were reported from the also found a video report about this incident, showing the movie still being projected on the screen as debris from the broken ceiling lies in the theatre. This incident was widely reported at the time, with news reports using the photo in also noteworthy that the two collapses were of wildly different scales. According to the Argentine news outlet Infobae, only a small part of the ceiling came down during the "Final Destination" screening. But the collapse during the "Captain America" show was much bigger. Per reports, rafter beams, tiles, and other ceiling material fell on the front row and apron of the it is clear that an old photo was falsely linked to the recent Argentina theatre ceiling collapse. Want to send us something for verification? Please share it on our at 73 7000 7000 You can also send us an email at factcheck@
