In what can be termed as a major embarrassment to Congress supporting Poonawalla brothers, as per a report in Ahmedabad Mirror and Mumbai Mirror, Pune based business family, Cyrus Poonawalla has issued a clarification listing out the members of their family that owns the business. The clarification further asked the press not to assume that any other “Poonawalla” was part of this family.
Cyrus Poonawalla founded the Serum Institute of India in 1966, which is one of the world’s largest vaccine makers.
So why did he issue the clarification and which other “Poonawalla” was he hinting at?
Pretty soon, some social media users guessed that it was Tehseen Poonawalla, brother-in-law of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s brother-in-law Robert Vadra.
https://twitter.com/ThBuckStopsHere/status/924888773854355456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Tehseen Poonawalla, a regular on TV and in press, has regularly spread misinformation on Twitter. In the past, he has tried to provoke people in the name of caste, and spread lies about lynching. He has also tweeted obscene tweets on Minister Smriti Irani, which he deleted after she showed them on a TV channel.
Recently, after son of a Congress leader Moti Irani, who was under CBI scanner for the CWG scam, Khodu Irani, was accused of sexual harassment by number of women and men on Twitter, Tehseen came to his rescue and even defended him by saying that he personally knows Khodu ‘who is a great guy’.
Could this be the reason the ‘original’ Poonawalla had to issue a clarification?
The clarification from Cyrus Poonawalla comes at a time when a Twitter user by the name Prafful Sarda has been tagging authorities on Twitter, like Pune Police and Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, vocally clarifying that Tehseen and Shehzad are not related to Cyrus Poonawalla and referring to the former as ‘cons’.
https://twitter.com/prafful_sarda/status/920919143473405952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
He has repeatedly referred to him as “uncle” implying that he may be somehow related to the Poonawallas.
https://twitter.com/tehseenp/status/492708428700086272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
He has also suggested that Cyrus Poonawalla as his uncle and hoped for free stay at a hotel they acquire.
https://twitter.com/tehseenp/status/492712628947406848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/tehseenp/status/500707378489094145?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Nowhere has he clarified that he is not related to Cyrus Poonawalla.
https://twitter.com/tehseenp/status/643328351155818497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
No wonder the Pune based family had to clarify that no other Poonawalla was part of their family. Considering that the other “Poonawalla” appears to have implied so on many occasions by using the helpful term “Uncle”.
UPDATE: Tehseen Poonawalla feels that the above OpIndia report is “fake” and has produced a letter in support of his assertion. You can read that letter here. We leave it upon the readers to conclude if our report is fake as claimed by Tehseen.