A photograph of a man with Uttar Pardesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was shared by Jan Adhikar Party leader Rajesh Ranjan, popularly known as Pappu Yadav. He claimed that the man is gangster Vikas Dubey whose attempted arrest in Kanpur led to the death of eight policemen. Ranjan promoted the claim on Facebook and Twitter writing, “यह जो फूल दे रहा है, यही वह कुख्यात है जिसने आठ पुलिसकर्मियों को सरेआम भून दिया…”
Yogesh Shukla, who identifies as an executive member of the Congress party, claimed that the man who killed UP cops is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader. “यह है कानपुर में 8 पुलिसकर्मियों को मारने वाला भाजपा नेता योगी जी का चेला विकास दुबे (He is the one who killed eight policemen in Kanpur, BJP leader Yogi ji’s aide.)”
India TV anchor Sushant Sinha had shared another photograph of the man which he later deleted. He had written, “When BJP spoke of Vikas, were they talking about Vikas Dubey or JP Nadda? Will they be able to give any clarification on this picture to the families of the martyred policemen?”
SP member Ali Khan Mahmudabad shared the man’s images with CM Adityanath and Home Minister Amit Shah. He later took down his tweet.
Alt News has also received a fact-check request for one of the images.
Not the same ‘Vikas Dubey’
The man in the pictures is a local BJP leader from Kanpur who shares his name with accused Vikas Dubey. The politician took to social media to call out the misinformation. In a video statement, he said, “I am Pandit Vikas Dubey, area chairman of BJP Kanpur-Bundelkhand region. I am currently the area chief of BJYM. A few miscreants on Facebook and Twitter are linking my photos and name with criminal Vikas Dubey. I am going to file a complaint against these people.”
गलत पोस्ट करके लोगों को भ्रमित करने वाले सभी अराजक तत्वों के खिलाफ कड़ी से कड़ी कार्रवाई की जाएगी pic.twitter.com/zZZayhWtgt
— vikasdubeybjp (@vikasdubeybjp2) July 3, 2020
The BJP leader also shared a few posts where the misinformation was shared.
अफवाहों से बचे
जो भी लोग आज पुलिस के साथ बदमाशों की हुई मुठभेड़ में उनकी शहादत को नमन करने की बजाय घटिया राजनीति करने का…Posted by Pandit Vikas Dubey Bjym on Thursday, 2 July 2020
Furthermore, the facial features of accused Vikas Dubey and BJP leader Vikas Dubey do not match.
Gangster Vikas Dubey, a history-sheeter, has been arrested several times but escaped conviction. The UP police attempted to arrest him in the early hours of July 3 based on a recent attempted murder case. Eight policemen lost their lives after gunfire broke out. In 2001, Dubey was also charged with the murder of Kanpur BJP leader Santosh Shukla but was later acquitted, reported NDTV. As per Hindustan Times, he joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and was elected as a member of the nagar panchayat. A poster has emerged which shows Dubey’s wife Richa Dubey contesting zila panchayat elections on an SP ticket. According to a report in The New Indian Express, she had won the polls in 2015.
Photographs of BJP leader Vikas Dubey were falsely shared as the man with the same name who is accused of killing eight policemen in UP’s Kanpur.
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