Did KC Venugopal Drink Liquor At Wayanad's Restaurant? Here Is The Truth
A purported BJP IT cell Twitter handle ‘Facts @BefittingFacts‘ on June 13, posted a video of Congress General Secretory and Alappuzha MP KC Venugopal, claiming that the Congress leader was drinking alcohol in a restaurant in Kerala’s Thamarassery . Posting the video, the X account asked how the restaurant could serve alcohol to the Congress leader as the it had no permission to serve liquor.
“This restaurant does not have a licence to sell alcohol. How they are serving alcohol to Congress leaders?.” the handle wrote, sharing a snap from a video of the Congress leader shared by independent news agency IANS. The post has also tagged Kerala police, the excise department and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
However, within hours, fact-checker Muhammed Zubair, taking to X, debunked the fake claim, asserting that he “just spoke to the manager” of the White House restaurant, Kabir, and the Congress leader was “drinking black tea, not alcohol as claimed by IT cell member”
Just spoke to the Manager (Kabir) of the restaurant “White House”.
In this, @kcvenugopalmp is drinking Black Tea, Not Alcohol as claimed by IT cell member @BefittingFacts from Bengal.
C’C @TheKeralaPolice https://t.co/UtvGBczrjd— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) June 13, 2024
After winning the seat for another term with a remarkable margin in the Lok Sabha elections, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi along with KC Venugopal and others visited his Wayanad constituency on June 11. It was during that the leaders went to the restaurant in Thamarassery. The video, shared by news agency IANS, showed the Congress leaders having a meal and ice cream together. In the video, the Alappuzha MP appeared with a black tea in his hand, which was used by the IT cell to peddle the fake news.
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Notably, reacting to the scenario, Congress general secretary in charge of communication Jairam Ramesh today said that fake video was purposely circulated to ‘malign the image of the Congress leader.’
Jairam Ramesh also shared a copy of the FIR filed against Shashank Shing, who allegedly operated the handle, in the Cyber Crimes Police Station in Hyderabad.
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“We have taken cognisance of this mischief and Congress MLC Dr. Venkat Narsing Rao Balmoor has lodged a complaint with the Cyber Crimes Police Station in Hyderabad. Here is a copy of the FIR. Fake news won’t be tolerated and the guilty will be made to bear the consequences.” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
A fake news is being circulated by the account @BefittingFacts
It falsely alleges that the black tea being consumed by Shri @kcvenugopalmp is alcohol in a restaurant. This has been purposely done to malign his image.
We have taken congnisance of this mischief and Congress MLC… pic.twitter.com/D6VDr8FI7M
— Congress (@INCIndia) June 14, 2024
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