No, Indian Govt Didn’t Issue Notice About Radiation at BrahMos Facility in Beas

It is fake. The Indian Armed Forces had stated that the claim about damage to the Brahmos installation are false.

A fake letter has gone viral with the false claim that the Indian government issued a letter about an 'ongoing radiation hazard' near a BrahMos missile facility in Beas, Punjab.

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

A notice purportedly issued by the Indian government's Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) in Mumbai is being widely shared on social media users.

What does it say?: The notice warns about an "ongoing radiation hazard" near a strategic military facility near Beas, Punjab.

• It reads, "The Government of India... confirms the continuing presence of radioactive emissions following an incident at a BrahMos missile storage facility near Beas, Punjab," after an "unverified explosion" on 10 May.

• The notice accuses the government of being "reluctant to engage public safety protocols due to political sensitivities" despite multiple internal alerts, adding that it is so due to the nature of the weapons stored.

• This document goes on to mention a detailed list of steps to take under the subheading, "Urgent Advisory to the Public."

An archived version of this post can be seen here.

(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)

(Archives of more claims on social media can be seen here, here, and here.)

But...?: The document is fake. The AERB did not issue any document of this nature and the Indian Armed Forces have categorically stated that the BrahMos missile base was not damaged.

How did we find out the truth?: We noticed that the document carried a few errors.

• Firstly, it mentions Beas as a district in Punjab, when the city of Beas is located within Amritsar district.

• Secondly, it mentions an Indian government department called the Indian National Radiological Safety Division, or INRSD, which does not exist.

The letter carries multiple errors.

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

• We then visited the website of the AERB, but saw that they had not issued any such document.

• Additionally, AERB is a government-affiliated body, which would not critique the government for inaction, if it would happen.

• Here, we noticed the third error. We saw that the letterhead used by AERB in a letter from December 2024 was visibly different than the one in the viral claim.

(Swipe to view the real letterhead.)

This is the fake letterhead as seen in the claim.

AERB's real letterhead from December 2024.

• It is important to note that during a special media briefing by the Ministry of Defence on 10 May, the Indian Air Force's Wing Commander Vyomika Singh categorically stated that claims about the BrahMos installation being attacked and destroyed were "false."

The disinformation was called out on 10 May itself.

(Source: Ministry of External Affairs/Altered by The Quint)

• We also came across a post on Maharashtra's Directorate General of Information and Public Relations (DGIPR) official Facebook page, which called this letter 'fake'.

The AERB is located in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

Conclusion: A fake letter is being shared to falsely claim that the AERB issued a notice about an ongoing radiation hazard at the BrahMos missile base in Beas, Punjab.

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