Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become essential today than ever before.
Claim
Swatantra Party Chair Rabi Lamichhane’s Life is under threat in ‘Gangster-ruled Nepal’.
Fact
Viral video is a clip from a video report on the growing infiltration of gangsters in Nepal’s politics.
A viral video claiming the life of Rashtriya Swatantra Party Chairperson Rabi Lamichhane is on the line allegedly due to the rise of gangsters in Nepali politics is going viral on TikTok.
TikTok user @pau_dil posted a video showing a video report shedding light on gangsters protected by the major political parties. Audio accompanying the video report says, “Let’s have a look at the gangsters protected by the parties. Former Sports Minister of Gandaki Province and current lawmaker Deepak Manage is a gangster leader who did time on death row. He is being protected by the CPN (Unified Socialist) party. Death row convict Tirtha Bahadur Lama, who spent three years behind bars, is the incumbent Minister for Water and Irrigation of Bagmati Province. He won the election from Nepali Congress ticket. Madhu Shrestha, who was involved in various criminal activities, is a lawmaker of Bagmati Province. Another gangster Chakre Milan active in contract bidding and predatory lending transactions is close to the CPN-UML. The party had even nominated him to contest the election from Gorkha district constituency-2.” The video goes on to list the other gangsters protected by the major political parties. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Life of Rabi Lamichhane [Chairman of Rastriya Swatantra Party] is on the line in Nepal where gangsters rule. Politics of gangsters.”
The 2.12-minute video posted on January 2 has garnered 13.7k likes, 126 users have shared it and 394 people have commented until the time of publishing this article.
The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the authenticity of the claim made in the viral video, Newschecker closely observed the video and noticed a logo of ‘Space 4k’ on the top right corner of the screen. Taking a clue from it, we conducted a search on the YouTube channel named ‘Space 4k Television’ and found a 40-minute video report on the rise of gangsters in Nepal’s politics with patronage from major political parties.
On checking the video, we found that the video footage from 7.1-minute time-stamp onwards exactly matched the viral video. We thoroughly checked the video report, prepared by former Nepal Police Deputy Inspector General Ramesh Kharel, and found that nowhere in the report does Kharel mention the name of RSP Chairperson Rabi Lamichhane and the threat he faces.
Further, we checked the x (formerly Twitter) handle of RSP Chair Rabi Lamichhane and if he has ever mentioned about his security threat. However, we didn’t find a single post where he mentioned about the security threat he faces due to the rise of gangsters in Nepal’s politics.
Thus, our findings clearly show the viral video is clipped from a video report on the rise of gangsters in the ranks of Nepal’s major political parties.
Conclusion
No, the viral video doesn’t report the growing threat to life of RSP Chairperson Rabi Lamichhane. The viral video actually reports the infiltration of gangsters in Nepal’s major political parties.
Result: False
Sources
Space 4K Television /YouTube, Jan 1, 2024
Rabi Lamichhane/ X (Formerly Twitter)
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Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become essential today than ever before.
