The brutal murder of Bajrang Dal activist in Shivamogga district of Karnataka on Sunday has spurred tensions in the communally-sensitive region of the southern state. Prohibitory orders were clamped and holiday announced on Monday for schools and colleges in the city. The police department is on high alert throughout the state after an incident of violence were reported. Fearing large-scale violence, the Shivamogga city has been turned into a police fortress.
While the hunt for the murderers is underway, leaders from both sides of the party are demanding stringent actions against the culprits. The miscreants, who came in a car, had chased him and attacked him with lethal weapons and then escaped from the spot. Though Harsha was shifted to the Meggan hospital, he succumbed to injuries. Harsha was actively involved in Bajrang Dal and VHP activities. He used to be at the forefront during Ganesh festivities and visarjan ceremony. Tense situation prevailed immediately after the incident.
Amidst all the chaos, a foreign journalist sparked a controversy after he called Harsha a "terrorist" and claimed that 23-year-old was involved in the communal violence that erupted in Tripura last October.
The claim
Foreign journalist CJ Werleman claimed in a tweet that Harsha was involved in the communal violence that took place in Tripura last year. He even called the Bajrang Dal worker a terrorist, all while labelling the organisation a "terrorist organisation."
His tweet, in a matter of hours, gained thousands of likes and RTs. While most of the users on Twitter called out Werleman for his claims, some even sided with him. Many users asked the tweet be deleted and his account suspended.
Fact check
International Business Times reviewed the claims made in the tweet by Werleman. While the tweet clearly appears propagandist in nature, the lack of evidence to back the claims makes it bogus.
Looking back, the foreign journalist has habitually spewed anti-India statements using incidents out of their context. In June last year, he had claimed that a Muslim man's beard for shaved off by "Hindutva" mob in UP for refusing to chant "Jai Sri Ram' while the actual incident from far from it. Ghaziabad Police investigated the incident and found it to be related to a dispute over the amulets the man used to trade in.
Similarly, the foreign journalist had called for boycott of "Make in India" products last year to save Muslims in India and J&K. He had even claimed that a Muslim graveyard was destroyed in Himachal Pradesh, which also was fake news.
As for the current claim, Karnataka DGP Praveen Sood debunked the false allegations. He said, "This is absolutely false. There is no connection of death to either terrorism or Tripura" in response to the journo's tweet.
Hence, IBTimes has also arrived at the conclusion that the claims made by the foreign journalist are false and the murdered Bajrang Dal activist had no connection to the Tripura violence.
