A message purportedly attributed to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is being shared widely on social media with a false claim that the agency has issued a helpline number to report against calls for beheading people and threats to the Hindus.
The viral message further carries an unrelated screenshot of news agency ANI's tweet from September 2021, which states that the NIA had issued a hotline number to lodge complaints against individuals propagating ISIS ideologies.
The fake communal message is being shared in the backdrop of the now suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma's controversial remarks on the Prophet. The NIA is investigating two cases of killings - in Rajasthan's Udaipur and Maharashtra's Amaravati - which appear to be linked to the Nupur Sharma controversy. Both the cases are being investigated under the charges of terrorism. Read here.
BOOM Hindi had earlier reached out to Vijayanta Arya, PRO of NIA, who said that the viral message circulating is fake. Further, the NIA also took to Twitter to quash the message.
One such viral message reads , "Any gehadi if he is saying "Sartan se juda" or talking against Hindus to murder them or issuing threats... Inform NIA on HOTLINE. Ask them to Give you their email id : In the mail id send them * Post screenshot * Link of the post * Link of the person who posted. If the threat is issued on whatsapp : * Get the whatsapp group link * screenshot of the abusive message or threat * screenshot of the person's whatsapp profile. Your identities will remain ANONYMOUS !!"
Click here to view the post.
The same message is viral in Hindi.
Click here to view one such post.
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Fact Check
BOOM Hindi reached out to Vijayanta Arya, PRO of NIA, to verify the authenticity of the viral claim. Arya sent us an NIA press release which stated that the viral message circulating on social media is fake.
The press release can be seen on the NIA's official website.
An excerpt from the press release reads, "During investigations by the NIA last year, it had come to notice that IS (Islamic State) was targeting gullible youth and radicalizing them through false propaganda to further its violent designs. Accordingly, an appeal was made in September 2021 that any such suspicious activity may be reported to the authorities, including the NIA, on its landline number: 011-24368800. We appeal to the people not be misled by such fake and false messaging. However, they are most welcome to join hands with the NIA in safeguarding our country and its people against terrorism by sharing information about terrorist activities and elements."
The same was tweeted by NIA's official Twitter handle.
Viral message uses unrelated tweet from 2021
BOOM further ran a keyword search on Twitter and found news agency ANI's tweet from September 17, 2021, which was used as a screenshot with the viral message.
Click here to view the tweet.
The tweet is part of ANI's Twitter thread reporting about NIA's investigation on 37 terror attacks inspired by the IS (Islamic State) ideology.
According to ANI, the NIA had issued a hotline number for people to report against individuals propagating ISIS ideologies and trying to radicalise youth. The viral screenshot is part of one of the tweets from the thread.
Furthermore, some of the viral messages include the contact information of the NIA headquarters in Delhi available on the official website.
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