Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
Kerala Congress media in-charge, Mohammed Mujahid Islam, shoots cow in the head to celebrate Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s victory in the Wayanad by-election held on November 20.
Fact
Video dates back to May 2024, predates Gandhi Vadra’s victory and is reportedly from Manipur.
A distressing 30-second video has gone viral on social media platforms and messenger platform WhatsApp, claiming to show one Mohammed Mujahid Islam, the media in-charge of Kerala Congress, shooting a cow in the head to celebrate Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s victory in the Wayanad Lok Sabha by-election held on November 20. 52-year-old Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who joins her mother Sonia Gandhi and brother Rahul Gandhi in Parliament, took the oath as a Member of Parliament on Thursday.
The archived version of the post, which has clocked 99.2K views so far, can be seen here.
Fact Check
Newschecker ran a reverse image search on the keyframes from the viral video, which led us to this X post, dated May 7, 2024, sharing the same footage, stating that the incident was from Manipur. Similar social media posts and reports on the video from early May 2024 can be seen here, here and here, confirming that the viral video predates Gandhi Vadra’s November 20, 2024 victory.
We also came across this May 7, 2024 X post from PETA India, stating that it was working with Manipur Police to ascertain the details of the crime to get an FIR registered in the concerned district. We could not independently verify yet if the video is from Manipur.
Newschecker also did not find any official record nor report of a Mohammed Mujahid Islam being the media-in-charge of the Congress’ Kerala unit. We reached out to Jyothikumar Chamakkala, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) spokesperson, who confirmed that the claim was false. “This is 100% fake news. No such incident happened here. There is no such position nor person with the Kerala Congress,” he said.
Conclusion
Old video of man shooting a cow goes viral with false claim that it shows the media in-charge of Kerala Congress shooting a cow to celebrate Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s victory in the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll.
Result: False
Source
Prag News report, May 7, 2024
X post, PETA India, May 7, 2024
Conversation with Jyothikumar Chamakkala, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) spokesperson
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
