By Indradeep Bhattacharya

India Today NE, the India Today group vertical that covers the northeast, reported on Sunday, July 21, that Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had been airlifted from Dhaka to an undisclosed location amid the nationwide crisis over an anti-quota stir that had already claimed over 100 lives.

The report authored by journalist Mehtab Uddin Ahmed was tweeted by the X handle of India Today NE at 2.48 pm with a caption that read, “#Bangladesh: Amidst the chaos, reports confirmed that Prime Minister #SheikhHasina was airlifted from here residence in Dhaka. Her current whereabouts remain unknown.”

Both the report, and the tweet were, however, soon deleted. An archived version of the story can be read here.

Readers should note that this is an updated version of the report and the update was saved close to three hours after the original story was tweeted.

Several users on social media shared the India Today NE report and subsequently deleted their posts as the report got retracted. Some of the posts are still live. (Facebook, X)

False Report by India Today

As the report of Sheikh Hasina being airlifted or leaving the country amid the ongoing crisis caused ripples, Alt News noticed that the language in the updated version of the report was self-contradictory in nature. It said, “reports confirmed that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was allegedly airlifted from her residence in Dhaka.” To have ‘confirmed reports’ on something and then to say that it had ‘allegedly’ happened was inexplicable.

We also noticed that no other media outlet had reported the Bangladesh PM being airlifted. Had it been true, it would certainly have been a major headline across publications. It also appeared strange that the point about Hasina being airlifted was buried in the fourth paragraph of the story under several less important points. The 6-minute video that was embedded in the story did not mention anything about it either.

Read Full Story https://www.altnews.in/india-today-ne-falsely-reports-sheikh-hasina-airlifted-from-dhaka-withdraws-story-later/