Social media users have shared screenshots of purported news articles claiming that former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu, and his son Nara Lokesh have been named as the accused in a massive drug haul in Visakhapatnam.
According to news reports, on 21 March, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seized 25,000 kg of cocaine-laced dried yeast from the Visakhapatnam port. The drug haul triggered a political fight between the ruling party Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) and Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP), just weeks ahead of the Assembly elections. Each party has accused its rival of being involved with the drug bust.
Social media users shared edited articles purporting to be from Telugu news outlets Way2news and Prajasakti to link Naidu and Lokesh with the drug seizure. One Facebook post shared a purported article by Way2news with the caption, “Big Breaking, Nara Lokesh in Vishaka drugs case,” featuring a picture of the political leader, his wife Bhuvaneshwari, and Damacharla Satyanarayana, a TDP leader from Prakasam district. The article claimed that the CBI implicated Satyanarayana as “A2” (accused number two) in the case, and associated Lokesh with him.
Another post on Facebook shared a purported article from Prajasakti, captioned, “Big Breaking, Chandrababu’s gang in Vishaka Drugs case,” naming individuals ‘A1’ (accused one) to ‘A8’ (accused 8) allegedly involved in the case.
The archived links of the posts can be found here, here and here.
However, these articles are fake. Naidu or Lokesh have neither been implicated in the case nor named in CBI’s FIR.
What are the facts?
Logically Facts first looked into the veracity of the alleged screenshots of the news articles circulating online. We combed the official websites of Way2news and Prajasakti for the same and came across no article making the said claims.
In fact, the links provided on the screenshots in the viral posts led to unrelated articles. For example, the link in the Way2news screenshot redirected us to an article on the appointment of vice-chancellors in universities in Telangana.
Way2news has acknowledged the misuse of its platform for spreading misinformation and introduced a feature for fact-checking articles using alphanumeric codes. Logically Facts has fact-checked several such fabricated screenshots circulated as Way2news articles, read here and here.
Comparisons between the viral screenshot and original Prajasakti articles revealed several editing discrepancies. The last few lines in the viral screenshots are from the second page of the March 22 edition of the daily. However, the original Prajasakti page is in black and white, whereas the viral image shows an edited colorised version. The original page had no article headlined ‘Chandrababu’s gang in Vishaka drugs case.’ A fake story about Naidu’s connection with the recent drug haul has been used to claim that the Telugu publication reported on the matter.
It’s essential to note that while the CBI investigation into the drugs case is ongoing, so far, the agency has not named any other individual persons or entities except for Sandhya Aqua Exports in its FIR, accessed by Logically Facts. The company is named A1 in the FIR, and the other accused remains unidentified.
The claim that TDP was accused in the drugs case was also spread after a fabricated letter about Satyanarayana quitting the party over “links to the case” was circulated online. However, the party clarified on X that he did not issue such a letter.
The verdict
Edited news clips circulating on social media falsely name TDP leaders Lokesh and Naidu as accused in the drugs case. However, no such articles were published, as confirmed by Logically Facts. Therefore, we have marked these claims as fake.
This story was originally published by Logically Facts, as part of the Shakti Collective. Except for the headline, excerpt and introduction para, this story has not been edited by ThePrint staff.