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 more essential today than ever before.
Claim
Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane apologised to KMG Chair Sirohiya.
Fact
No, old video of a press meet organised by Rabi Lamichhane shared as recent.
A video allegedly showing Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane apoligising to Kantipur Media Group (KMG) Chairman Kailash Sirohiya after the latter’s release from detention is going viral on TikTok.
Sirohiya, the owner of Nepal’s largest media organisation, was released on May 29 on the condition that he appears before the police when summoned. He was arrested on May 21 after a complaint was lodged with Dhanusha District Police for holding multiple citizenships. Denying any wrongdoing, Sirohiya has been reiterating that the arrest warrant was aimed at exacting revenge on the media house for exposing Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane’s alleged involvement in misappropriating cooperative deposits.
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @kapil_brother posted a video showing Rabi Lamichhane speaking at a press meet. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Rabi Lamichhane apologising. Rabi appeared in the media after the release of Kailash Sirohiya. He says he is capable to deceive but doesn’t want to do so.” In the video, Rabi says, “I am sorry I need to stoop a little. I am not a highly intelligent person but I am smart enough to deceive you. I don’t want to do so, I want to speak the truth from my heart…”
The video posted on May 29 has garnered 2905 likes, 27 users have shared it and 112 people have commented on it 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 took a key-frame from the viral video and conducted a reverse search on it. The search threw up several results resembling the viral video.
On checking a video, dated February 5, 2023, published on a YouTube Channel named Janata Media, we found that the video frame from 26.37-minute onwards exactly matched the viral video. The video showed footage from a special press conference organised by Rabi Lamichhane where he vented his ire at the big media houses of Nepal.
Lamichhane, who was elected a member of the House of Representatives from Chitwan-2 in the parliamentary elections, lost his post after being found guilty in the citizenship case in February 2023. The Supreme Court had ruled that Lamichhane had not initiated the process of acquiring Nepali citizenship after relinquishing his American passport and is ineligible to become an MP.
Further, we checked another video, dated Feb 5, 2023, of the same press conference organised by Rabi Lamichhane to announce his party’s decision to quit the government. We found that the video footage from the 40.07-minute timestamp exactly matched the viral video.
We also looked up social media pages of Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane and news reports if the Home Minister had apologised to KMG Chairman Kailash Sirohiya. However, we didn’t find anything.
Thus, our findings clearly show that the viral clip is from a special press meet organised by Rastriya Swatantra Party Chairman Rabi Lamichhane to announce his party’s decision to quit the government and express his disappointment with the media after he lost the post of Home Minister over his citizenship case.
Conclusion
No, Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane has not apologised to KMG Chair Sirohiya. The viral video is old and shows a clip from a press meet organised by Lamichhane after his first stint as Home Minister following his citizenship controversy.
Result: False
Sources
Janata Media TV/YouTube, Feb 5, 2023
My Republica, Feb 6, 2023
Sutra TV /YouTube, Feb 5, 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 more essential today than ever before.
