“रूपेश बैसोया की हत्या करवाने वाला ड्रग माफ़िया गिरफ़्तार (The drug mafia who murdered Rupesh Baisoya is arrested),” tweeted Rebel AAP MLA Kapil Mishra on October 9, adding that the man detained for the murder of Delhi resident Rupesh Baisoya is ‘Bangladeshi.’
Breaking News – @free_thinker का “बांग्लादेशी मामा” गिरफ़्तार
इसे बचाने के लिए @AltNews ने मेरे खिलाफ झूठी ख़बर चलाई
रूपेश बैसोया की हत्या करवाने वाला ड्रग माफ़िया गिरफ़्तार
प्रतीक सिन्हा जैसे ड्रग माफ़िया को बचाने वाले लोग पत्रकारिता पर धब्बा हैं pic.twitter.com/Ra3A4WOUWp
— Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) October 9, 2018
Mishra reiterated his claims despite an earlier Alt News fact-check which revealed that the ‘Bangladeshi’ narrative was baseless.
On September 30, Baisoya was shot dead outside his residence. Four days later, the police arrested three people in connection with the crime. The alleged perpetrators, Akash, Ajay and their accomplice Suraj are all residents of Delhi.
Kapil Mishra, however, has been making unsubstantiated allegations since the news of Baisoya’s murder was first reported. The police’s investigation and subsequent detention of the purported criminals have not deterred the MLA from backing his claims with disinformed tweets and boisterous rallies.
The India Today report
In his latest tweet, Mishra attached screengrabs of an India Today article titled – “Police arrest two drug peddlers accused of killing man in Delhi.” He affixed a screenshot of the first two paragraphs of the report which talk about the alleged drug peddlers Mohammed Farooq and Parul alias Khala. The latter, as claimed by the police, has since absconded.
If one reads through the India Today report, the first sentence of the article itself is in contradiction to its title. While the report says, “…two have been arrested for running the drug ring“, the headline says that two have been arrested for being accused in the murder.
A later paragraph in the article mentions those who were earlier arrested for Rupesh Baisoya’s murder. Their names (highlighted in the screenshot below) do not match with those held for possession of narcotics.
India Today conflicts its own reportage. However, even this article does not use the word ‘Bangladeshi’ to address the arrested drug peddlers.
Two separate crimes
In an October 7 press release, the Delhi police stated that Farooq confessed to being a Class 10 dropout and that he has been living in Taimoor Nagar since childhood. The police’s statement also does not refer to Farooq as Bangladeshi and neither does it portray any connection between his arrest and the murder of Rupesh Baisoya.
When Alt News spoke with DCP (South-East Delhi) Vijay Kumar, he informed that Farooq was arrested in a separate case by the narcotics division of Delhi Police.
The India Today report mentioned another person who was caught by the District Narcotics Squad in Taimoor Nagar – Abhijit Mukharjee. An October 6 press release by the Delhi police said that Mukharjee was also a Grade 10 drop out. This statement too does not portray a Bangladeshi connection either with the alleged drug ring or with Rupesh Baisoya’s murder.
Delhi police’s crackdown on alleged drug trade
Kapil Mishra had attached another screenshot with his tweet – a Times of India report titled “Delhi: Key player in Taimoor Nagar drugs trade nabbed with Rs 1 crore heroin”.
While Mishra attempted to link this report with the murder of Baisoya, the article has no mention of the latter. This report too does not address Farooq as Bangladeshi but mentions that locals were alleging the same.
An article by NDTV says that the Delhi police have been nabbing drug peddlers after locals began protesting an alleged racket. Baisoya’s murder had sparked the agitation.
The arrests, however, were not limited to Taimoor Nagar but spread across the city. An active drug peddler was arrested by the Narcotics Squad from Mianwali Nagar, Outer District. The accused Ravinder is a resident of Jwala Puri, Delhi, revealed the police press statement.
Kapil Mishra had initially posted a video of himself, both on Facebook and Twitter, making unsubstantiated claims that Rupesh Baisoya was murdered by Bangladeshi drug mafia. The video drew a combined view count of over 32,000. The MLA also held rallies in Taimoor Nagar propagating the ‘Bangladeshis were behind the murder’ narrative. No media report or police investigation has yet established a link between the two, however, Mishra continues to mislead citizens.
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