A screenshot of a news bulletin purportedly broadcast by NTV is being shared on social media claiming that Revanth Reddy, the newly appointed Chief Minister of Telangana, announced his intention to sell temple lands for the welfare of Muslims in the state. A few users shared a screenshot of a Way2News report claiming the same that Revanth Reddy is going to auction temple lands to raise funds for the Muslim declaration of the Congress party. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Telangana CM Revanth Reddy announced that he would auction of temple lands to raise funds for the Muslim Declaration and other Muslim welfare schemes in the state.
Fact: Revanth Reddy did not make any such announcement regarding raising funds for Muslim welfare schemes by auctioning temple lands. NTV Telugu Digital Manager through a tweet confirmed that the viral screenshot attributed to the NTV is fake. Further, Way2News issued a clarification stating that a fake report, using their logo, circulated such misinformation about Revanth Reddy on social media. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
When we searched to check whether Revanth Reddy had made any such announcement about raising funds for Muslim declaration or any other Muslim welfare schemes by auctioning temple lands, we could not find any news report confirming this. Also, we could not find any such news broadcast on the official YouTube of the NTV. If Revanth Reddy had made any such announcement on raising funds for the Muslim declaration, several media organisations would have published articles reporting that information.
NTV Digital Manager Chilukuri Srinivas Rao through a tweet confirmed that the viral screenshot attributed to the NTV news channel is fake, and said they will take legal action against those who create such fake news in the name of NTV on social media.
A team of Congress leaders also submitted a petition to the Cyber Crime police urging the authorities to take action against the persons, who had morphed, fabricated, and made a television screenshot purportedly showing Revanth Reddy making comments that could promote enmity among the religions.
Upon searching for the details of the Way2News report circulating on social media, we found a tweet published by ‘Fact-check by Way2News’ related to the viral screenshot. Sharing the image of the viral screenshot, Way2News tweeted, “This is not a #Way2News story. Some miscreants are spreading misinformation using our logo and the ‘attached post’ has gone viral. We confirm that this has not been published by us.”
To sum it up, Revanth Reddy did not make any announcement on raising funds for Muslim welfare schemes by auctioning temple lands.
