(Editor’s Note: The story was first published on 19 August 2019 and is being republished from The Quint’s archives in the light of the claim resurfacing on social media.)
CLAIM
A message attributed to the Ministry of Home Affairs is being circulated on Facebook and WhatsApp claiming that Pakistan has sought China’s help in attacking India and that the two countries are manufacturing dangerous crackers ahead of the festive season.
The viral text has been under-signed by Biswajit Mukherjee, who according to the message is a Senior Investigation Officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The message reads that the two countries are producing a different kind of a cracker that produces smoke and causes asthma. The message further enlists the harmful effects of these crackers and goes on to claim that they will be sold in Indian markets during Diwali and other festivals. It also advises people to not purchase these crackers.
According to the message:
The crackers produce asthma-inducing smoke.
The crackers are also designed to produce Carbon Monoxide to cause breathing difficulty in people.
Further, China is reportedly producing decorative coloured electric bulbs and serial bulbs with a high content of Mercury. The light produced/emitted by these bulbs can be highly injurious and cause vision-related disturbances in persons exposed to the light, especially children.
WHAT’S THE TRUTH
The message which is being circulated has been undersigned by an officer called ‘Biswajit Mukherjee’ but we could not find any officer by the same name on the document available on the ministry’s website. Secondly, there is no official post called ‘Senior Investigation Officer’.
Speaking to The Quint, highly placed sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs denied issuing any such message and called it ‘fake’.
We also found out that a similar message attributed to the same person — Biswajit Mukherjee — was in circulation in 2018 as well.
The same viral message has also been debunked by AltNews.
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