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Fact Check: No, 10,000 Sim Cards Were Not Purchased By Muslim Man To Create Communal Unrest
Writer: Yusha Rahman
Yusha, an engineer turned journalist with a core interest in sensible journalism. Since the time she worked in an MNC, she saw how fake news was rife to malign images of communities, leaders, etc. This encouraged her to give up her career in MNC and passionately work towards curbing fake news and propaganda.
India, 14 Dec 2020 8:45 AM GMT
Editor : Shweta Kothari |
A broadcast turned digital journalist, Shweta Kothari heads the newsroom at The Logical Indian. She has previously worked with CNBC and NewsX as a news anchor and senior correspondent. Shweta holds a masters degree in journalism from the university of Sussex, UK and started her career with work placement with BBC in Scotland.
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A video is viral on social media claiming a Muslim man was found in possession of 10,000 Airtel sim cards in Jharkhand, to create fake accounts and communal unrest. The Logical Indian Fact-Check team investigated the claim.
A video is going viral on social media, in which a man can be heard saying that about 10,000 Airtel sims cards purchased by a man in Jharkhand for the purpose of creating unrest in the society.
In the video, a man can be heard saying that 10,000 thousand sim cards were seized by Anti-Terror Squad (ATS), Jharkhand from a person named Javed. These sim cards could potentially be used to create thousands of fake accounts on Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter, so as to create unrest in the society. The narrator further says the owner can masquerade as Dalit to abuse Brahmins, or pretend to be a Brahmin to abuse Dalits.
The video is being shared a caption, "10000 हजार सिम card एक जावेद के नाम जिनसे ये हजारों की fack id बनाकर फेसबुक और whatsaap Twitter पर नफरत फैलाने का काम करते है दलित बनकर ब्राह्मण को गाली देते है और ब्राह्मण बनकर दलित को राजपूत बन कर यादव को गाली देते ह पर मिडिया मे इसपर कोई सुचना नही."
The video has been widely shared on Twitter.
The post is also viral on Facebook.
Claim:
ATS seized 10,000 sim cards from a person named Javed who wanted to use these sim cards to create communal unrest.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian observed that the anchor attributed his report to The Telegraph. The report was published on October 10, 2018. According to the report, the Anti-Terror Squad in Jharkhand detained three people after city police raided them and found 10,000 sims cards and sim boxes in their possession. They were all issued in the name of one, Javed Ahmed.
Sim box is a device used as part of voice communication (VoIP) gateway installation. It can be used for sending bulk messages, creating multiple accounts on social media, and making calls with an international number.
Further, we found an update on the story published by The Telegraph on October 24, 2018. According to the report, the ATS confirmed that 10,000 sim cards did not belong to an individual, but a telecommunication company, 'One Excel'.
The report s, "ATS superintendent of police P. Murugan, who led the probe, said the investigation revealed One Excel was registered with Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the regulations authority of telecommunications in India. He clarified that these SIM cards were issued to the company, which was registered with TRAI, under the Airtel corporate user plan."
Hence, ATS confirmed that nothing suspicious emerged out of the investigation.
The Quint also contacted Jharkhand SP ATS, Anjani Anjan on the same story, who said that an enquiry was conducted into the matter but nothing suspicious was found. He said that the arrested individuals purchased the Airtel SIM cards for their telemarketing company, Excel.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
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