On November 10, several media outlets reported that unknown assailants shot dead national level wrestler Nisha Dahiya and her brother at Sushil Kumar Academy in Sonipat’s Halalpur area. This report came just five days after Dahiya bagged a bronze medal in the women’s freestyle (65kg) category at the Wrestling U-23 World Championships.
The reports added that Nisha’s mother Dhanpati was also injured in the incident and is in critical condition at Rohtak’s PGI hospital. It was further said that the police has sent the siblings’ bodies for postmortem at Civil Hospital in Sonipat.
Some of the outlets that carried this report were India Today, Hindustan Times, India.com, Economic Times, Prabhat Khabar, Asianet, Republic World, Daily Excelsior, NDTV, MSN India, United News of India, evartha.in, The Tribune, Mumbai Tak and Ujjwal Jammu News.
Some Facebook accounts had also posted the same — Wrestlingtv (over 1.4 lakh followers), RapidLeaks (over 1 lakh followers), Kridha Productions (over 74,000 followers), and dadarprabhadevi.in (over 1 lakh followers).
Nisha Dahiya debunks news of her death
Shortly after the “breaking news” Nisha uploaded a short clip on Instagram and clarified, “Hello, I’m Nisha and I have come to Gonda to part take in senior nations. I am absolutely fine and this news is absolutely fake.”
View this post on Instagram
SP Sonipat Rahul Sharma clarified that the wrestler who was shot dead was a different Nisha Dahiya. “This Nisha Dahiya (shot dead) and medalist wrestler Nisha Dahiya are two different people. The medalist wrestler belongs to Panipat and is at an event now,” he was quoted stating by ANI.
Haryana: A wrestler & her brother shot dead in Sonipat, their mother hospitalised after being shot
SP Sonipat Rahul Sharma says, “This Nisha Dahiya (shot dead) & medalist wrestler Nisha Dahiya are 2 different people. The medalist wrestler belongs to Panipat & is at an event now” pic.twitter.com/2lP1Qzt9a8
— ANI (@ANI) November 10, 2021
PTI quoted the wrestling coach stating that the deceased was a newcomer.
Wrestler shot dead in Sonepat is newcomer Nisha Dahiya, not U-23 world championship bronze-medallist: Coach, who travelled with Indian team
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) November 10, 2021
A confusion arose since both wrestlers shared the same name. Several media outlets later took down their reports or added clarifications.
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