On Saturday morning, Times of India via the below tweet created a storm on Twitter, when it alleged that the Election Commission had raided AAP candidate Naresh Balyan’s residence and siezed more than 5000 Liquor bottles.
Expectedly, there was wide spread outrage on Twitter which ridiculed AAP for using corrupt practices to secure votes:
Ec raid at uttam nagar aap candidate Naresh walyan residence..more than 5000 liquor bottles seized..fir lodged..
— PULKIT NAGAR (@nagar_pulkit) January 30, 2015
This #AAP candidate Naresh Balyan busted with 5000 bottles of liquor ! Way to go Apptards ! Drunken fools ! — Jasumati (@JasumatiPatel) January 31, 2015
But within two hours of their first tweet, Times of India took a U-Turn and tweeted the below tweet, after deleting its original tweet.
Correction: EC raids godown in Delhi, 5000 liquor bottles seized. Report that godown belonged to AAP candidate Naresh Balyan is incorrect
— Times of India (@timesofindia) January 31, 2015
While the raid had actually happened, it wasn’t at Naresh Balyan’s residence. This Aaj Tak report also corroborated the same by saying that the Election Commission hadn’t been able to verify to whom the godown belonged, hence a case was filed against “Unknown Persons”. It further added that some Media sources have said that AAP candidate Naresh Balyan had some connection with the said godown, but no evidence proving the same had been obtained.
Soon AAP spokesperson Atishi Marlena took to Twitter to clarify the incident. She via her tweets confirmed that there was an EC raid, which seized liquor bottles, but it was apparently on a godown owned by a person named “Mukesh Balyan”. She went ahead and said that the Election Commission had filed a case against “unknown persons”.
Another AAP leader Vishal Dadlani went a step ahead and alleged that the shop was owned by a BJP supporter:
The person from whose godown the liquor has been siezed, is an awardee of BJP. Do @ibnlive @newsxonline @ZeeNews have courage to show this?
— VISHAL DADLANI (@VishalDadlani) January 31, 2015
.@SachinKalbag@AksharPathak@gauravsabnis Also, that the FIR is against “unknown persons”. I hear the guy who owns the godown, is BJP.
— VISHAL DADLANI (@VishalDadlani) January 31, 2015
Its interesting that Atishi Marlena and Vishal Dadlani claim to know the owner of the godown, yet the Election Commission chose to file a case against “unknown persons”. Also, as per our search, there is no person with the name “Mukesh Balyan” in the Delhi voters list. The media must learn to stop sensationalising news and must verify facts before publishing them.
