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| - Fact Check: DD staffer from viral Naxal attack video is not dead
India Today Fact Check team found that the man, to whom people were paying homage, was not the one who died in the attack.
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India Today Fact Check
The man, to whom people were paying homage, was not the one who died in the attack. It was Achyutanand Sahu's colleague, assistant cameraman Mormukut Sharma, in the video.
A gut-wrenching video shot by a Doordarshan (DD) staffer who was caught in Tuesday's Naxal attack in the middle of the Dantewada forest in Chhattisgarh left social media users teary-eyed. The video shows a man lying on the ground recording a message on his mobile phone, while one can hear the sound of gunfire in the background.
A DD cameraperson and two policemen were killed in the attack. Several people, including some journalists and a few media organisations, mistook the recorded message as the last words of the DD cameraman, Achyutanand Sahu, who died in the firing. Many even took to social media to offer condolences to his family.
India Today Fact Check team found that the man, to whom people were paying homage, was not the one who died in the attack. It was Sahu's colleague, assistant cameraman Mormukut Sharma, in the video. Sharma survived the attack. He is a camera and lighting assistant who was also travelling with the DD team when it came under attack.
A day after the deadly attack, national media, as well as social media, were touched by the video, in which the man recorded a message for his mother thinking that this would be the last message for his family amidst firing.
"Mom, I love you... I might die today... But somehow I am not scared even though I am facing death," said the man, his voice breaking. The Facebook page of Hindi daily Punjab Kesari played this video, saying "this is the last moments of the DD cameraman who was killed in the firing"
Senior journalist Ajit Anjum also posted the video on Twitter, assuming it to be the last moments of the slain video journalist, Achyutanand Sahu. However, he soon realised his mistake and deleted his tweet.
Others like @amitanandal88 on Twitter and Facebook users such as Sonu Chaudhary too shared this video, claiming it to be the last moments of Sahu.
We reached out to the man in the video, Mormukut Sharma. He shared a video message exclusively with India Today to clear the confusion about his identity.
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# #, # . # . pic.twitter.com/80TCUfCpI9 Balkrishna (@bala3047) October 31, 2018
During the attack, Sharma managed to lay low on the ground to save himself and shot this video while the crew was caught up in the firing between Naxals and policemen. Fearing his life, he recorded this video message for his family. Fortunately, he survived the ordeal to tell us the tale.
READ| Heartbreaking video Doordarshan staffer recorded as Naxals attacked him
WATCH| DD staffer records emotional video as Naxals attack him
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