A post is being widely shared on social media claiming that the Mi-17V5 helicopter carrying India’s Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat was shot down by the Tamil Nadu Liberation Army. The post even claims that Tamil Nadu Liberation Army had put out a statement in this regard; and that the area where the crash happened has been infested with Tamil insurgents. There is also a Twitter link provided at the end of the post. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Mi-17 V5 helicopter carrying India’s CDS was shot down by Tamil Nadu Liberation Army.
Fact: There is no evidence that the Mi-17 V5 helicopter carrying India’s CDS was shot down by Tamil Nadu Liberation Army. Tamil Nadu Liberation Army is one of the banned organisations in India; is one of the terrorist organisations listed in the first schedule of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The twitter link/account which is propagating this information is based out of Pakistan and is tied to some ‘Pakistan Strategic Forum’ which ‘is an Islamabad-based defence related think tank’. The cause of the crash is not yet known. A tri-service enquiry had been ordered by the Indian Air Force (IAF). It has also been reported that Retired Brigadier Sudhir Sawant had alleged that the crash was not an accident but a conspiracy by the LTTE and ISI. However, nothing has been reported about Tamil Nadu Liberation Army shooting down the helicopter carrying India’s CDS Bipin Rawat. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched on the internet for credible reports about Tamil Nadu Liberation Army shooting down the helicopter carrying India’s CDS, we could not find any. If such a thing would have happened, all the major news outlets would have covered it.
Tamil Nadu Liberation Army is one of the banned organisations in India. It is one of the terrorist organisations listed in the first schedule of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. We could not find any official social media accounts handled by the organisation. Had they put out a statement with reference to the helicopter crash, it would have been in the public domain and carried by the news outlets; we could not find any such information online.
The Twitter link/ account which is propagating this information is based out of Pakistan. It states that it is part of some ‘Pakistan Strategic Forum’, which according to its bio, ‘is an Islamabad-based defence related think tank’.
The cause of the MI-17 V5 helicopter crash that killed CDS General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 others is not yet known. The Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in his brief statement to the Parliament said that a tri-service enquiry had been ordered by the Indian Air Force (IAF).
It has been reported by several news outlets that Retired Brigadier Sudhir Sawant had alleged that the crash was not an accident but a conspiracy by the LTTE and ISI. The reports can be seen here and here. However, nothing has been reported about Tamil Nadu Liberation Army shooting down the helicopter carrying India’s CDS Bipin Rawat.
To sum it up, there is no evidence that the Mi-17V5 helicopter carrying India’s Chief of Defence Staff was shot down by the Tamil Nadu Liberation Army.
