Multiple imposter accounts created in farmer leader Rakesh Tikait’s name

Several accounts in the name of Bharat Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait have surfaced on Twitter. Tikait is the son of BKU founder Mahendra Singh Tikait. The 51-year-old is former Delhi police constable and has fought elections in the past on varied party tickets. Tikait claims to have voted for the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. But has proven to be a strong adversary to the party especially after his emotional video following the administration’s order to vacate protesting sites went viral.

On January 28, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal quote-tweeted a tweet by the handle @rkeshtikait expressing his support towards the farmers. CM Kejriwal quote-tweeted believing that he is responding to Tikait. His tweet gained over 5,000 retweets.

Fact-check

What is Rakesh Tikait’s official account?

Based on the official Facebook page of Tikait, that has close to four lakh followers, his official Twitter account is @RakeshTikaitBKU that has about 75,000 followers, and his official Instagram handle is rakesh.tikait that has approximately 25,000 followers.

On January 29, The Tribune tagged @RakeshTikaitBKU in one of their tweets. Additionally, several other verified accounts have tagged the official account of Tikait.

@RakeshTikaitBKU ‘s tears do the trick, number of protestors expected to increase at #Ghazipurborder https://t.co/lezLCs2cnk @Vibha_Tribune

— The Tribune (@thetribunechd) January 29, 2021

Prominent imposter accounts impersonating Tikait

Several imposter accounts created in the name of BKU leader Rakesh Tikait have gathered a large following on Twitter.

1. @RakeshTkaite (over 40,000 followers)
2. @rkeshtikait (over 33,000 followers)
3. @rakestikait (close to 20,000 followers)
4. @DineshKaushik_ (closer to 15,000 followers). 

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Several tweets by the above-mentioned accounts prove that they cannot be the official handle of Tikait. (1, 2, 3 and 4)

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The official Twitter account of Rakesh Tikait is @RakeshTikaitBKU. Since his account is not verified, several people including the Delhi chief minister were led to fall for fake accounts created in Tikait’s name.