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| - Fact Check: When Ashish became Ashik — grisly Mysuru murder given false communal spin
The fact check team has found that a woman was allegedly killed by a 29-year-old man called Ashish but his name was falsely shared as "Ashik" by several news reports.
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India Today Fact Check
Both the accused and victim are Hindus. The woman was allegedly killed by a 29-year-old man called Ashish. His name was falsely shared as “Ashik” by several news reports.
A young woman was found dead in a hotel room. The police took swift action and arrested her boyfriend as the prime suspect. This incident from Mysuru, Karnataka, however, has been discussed on social media in a different context — that of “Love Jihad”, a Hindu right-wing conspiracy that believes Muslim men seduce Hindu women in order to convert them.
Those discussing this incident shared the photos of the two involved — a Hindu woman called Apoorva Shetty and a supposedly Muslim man called Ashik. Sagar Kumar, a journalist from Sudarshan News tweeted the photos, calling the man an “Abdul”, a popular euphemism for Muslim men used by the Hindu right.
AFWA, however, found that both the victim and the man accused of killing her are Hindu.
The archived versions of similar posts can be seen here, here, and here.
AFWA probe
We found that the post that's being shared with the names and photos of the victim and the accused was taken from a news report by Mysuru-based news website Star of Mysore. Per this report and others, Shetty was found dead in a hotel on the night of August 31. She had reportedly checked into the hotel with a man called Ashik. On September 2, the Mysuru police apprehended this man.
Multiple media outlets including News18 Kannada, Zee News, TV9 Kannada reported the incident, calling the accused Ashik, However, none of these reports had any mention of his religion.
To get to the bottom of this, AFWA reached out to ACP MN Shashidhar and Inspector Divakar of the Devaraja police station, under whose jurisdiction this case falls. They both told AFWA that the name of the accused was not Ashik — it was Ashish. They said both the accused and the victim are Hindu.
Speaking to AFWA, the ACP said, “When rumours started to circulate in the name of the accused’s religion, I personally took a look at his details.
The name of the man is Ashish and he belongs to the Okkaliga caste. His father’s name is Ravikumar and his mother is Gowri. He is a 29-year-old graphic designer.” AFWA also obtained a copy of the FIR, which confirms that the name of the accused is Ashish.
“The couple had taken a room at a hotel on August 30. Ashish went absconding following the woman’s death. He was later arrested after the police traced his mobile. He is currently under police custody and an investigation is underway,” the ACP further said.
The police also told AFWA that the accused is an alcoholic and has a history of engaging in petty fights, adding that he is married and has been staying away from his wife for some time. He has been charged with murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.
It is hence clear that both, the victim and accused, are Hindus. And all allegations of “Love Jihad” are false.
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