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
Absconding Chairman of Gorkha Media Network, Gajendra Babu (GB) Rai, has been arrested in Malaysia through Interpol.
Fact
No, Rai is still on the run and his whereabouts is not known to the police though a diffusion notice has been issued against him.
At a time when the law enforcement agencies have been looking for Chairman of Gorkha Media Network Gajendra Babu (GB) Rai, two videos claiming that he has been arrested in Malaysia have gone viral on TikTok.
Nepal Police had issued an arrest warrant against 19 individuals including GB Rai, the founding chairman of Pokhara Suryadarshan Savings and Credit Cooperatives, for their alleged involvement in embezzling over Rs 1.35 billion deposited by people at the cooperatives.
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @sarumagar1010 posted a video claiming that GB Rai has been arrested by a Nepali security guard in Malaysia. Audio accompanying the video presented in a news bulletin style says, “GB Rai has been arrested after his bodyguard had a verbal exchange with a security guard while Rai was walking out of a supermarket. Later the Nepali guard informed the Malaysian police and got him arrested. The Malaysia police have handed over Rai to the Nepali Embassy and Interpol. He will be brought to Nepal tomorrow. Meanwhile, the news has made Rabi Lamichhane sad.”
The video posted on January 29 has garnered 2018, 86 users have shared it and 135 people have commented on it. The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
Another TikTok user @janbhuminepal posted a video presented in news bulletin style. Text superimposed on the video reads, “GB Rai has been arrested in Malaysia. Nepal Police set to repatriate him to Nepal with the help of Interpol.” Audio accompanying the video says, “Absconding GB Rai has been found in Malaysia and preparations are in the final stage to bring him back to Nepal. GB Rai, against whom a diffusion notice has been issued by Interpol, has been located in Malaysia. Police concluded that founding chairman of Surya Darshan Saving and Credit Cooperative and Galaxy 4K Television Promoter Rai, who had been absconding after embezzling funds of the cooperative, has reached Malaysia. Interpol Malaysia informed NCB Kathmandu that Rai was in Malaysia. However, the police are preparing to convert the diffusion notice to a red alert notice as the former wouldn’t be effective to arrest him.”
The video posted on February 21 has garnered 88 likes and four people have commented on it. 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 first video, we began by splitting the video into several key frames and conducted reverse searches on them. A reverse search on a frame led us to an article, dated August 30, 2019, published in world of buzz, a social news website based in Malaysia. The image carried in the article exactly matched a frame from the viral video which actually showed an altercation between a ‘Datin’ and a security guard in Malaysia.
Our findings clearly indicated that an unrelated image was carried in the first viral video.
We, then, took a key-frame from the second viral video and conducted a reverse search on it. The search led us to several articles on Nepal Police winning the best video contest among Interpol members. On checking an article, dated November 30, 2023, published on My Republica online, we found that the image carried in the viral video showed a generic image of Nepali police officers posing for a group shot with police officers from other countries.
So, we checked for latest developments regarding the police hunt for GB Rai by using relevant keywords and found several articles confirming that a diffusion notice has been issued against GB Rai after the police couldn’t find him inside the country, seeking help from international police to arrest him.
On checking an article, dated January 28, published on the Kathmndu Post online, we found that the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) on January 26 issued a diffusion notice against GB Rai. However, we couldn’t find any report confirming that GB Rai has been located or arrested in Malaysia.
We reached out to the Nepal Police Spokesperson, DIG Bhim Prasad Dhakal, who confirmed that the whereabouts of GB Rai has not been known and he has not been arrested.
Conclusion
No, Galaxy 4K TV promoter GB Rai has been located or arrested in Malaysia. The viral videos are misleading.
Result: False
Sources
Kathmandu Post, Jan 28, 2023
World Of Buzz, August 30, 2019
My Republica, Nov 30, 2023
Setopati , Sept 11, 2023
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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.
