Thumbnail of Sushant Sinha’s video falsely portrayed an IPS officer as Ghazi Baba

In a now-deleted YouTube video of journalist Sushant Sinha’s interview with former Border Security Force (BSF) officer NN Dubey, the two discuss Ghazi Baba, a blacklisted terrorist linked to the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Harkat-ul-Ansar. Involved in several terrorist attacks, including the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, Baba was killed during a BSF operation in Srinagar in August 2003. 

Sinha’s team, however, had made a gaffe: In the thumbnail of the video, sandwiched between terrorists Masood Azhar and Osama bin Laden, was a man that no one recognised. The man is Punjab ADGP IPS officer Faiyyaz Farooqui. 

The thumbnail falsely depicted IPS Farooqui as Ghazi Baba and featured a bullet mark on his forehead, suggesting he was shot dead. Though the video was taken down at the time of publishing this report, Sinha or his team are yet to officially acknowledge or apologise for the mistake. 

In times of misinformation, you need news you can trust. We’ve got you covered. Subscribe to Newslaundry and power our work.