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
Nepal Police CIB arrested Gitendra Babu Rai from Kathmandu.
Fact
GB Rai has not been arrested yet.
A video claiming that GB (Gitendra Babu) Rai, the chairman of Gorkha Media Group and operator of now-defunct Galaxy 4K TV, has been arrested from Kathmandu, is going viral on TikTok.
Gitendra Babu Rai (GB Rai), who has been accused of misappropriating the savings of multiple cooperatives, has been on the run for about a year. Earlier in January 2024, the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) issued a diffusion notice against GB Rai. Rai has been accused of embezzling over Rs1 billion from various cooperatives to fund the Gorkha Media company.
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @dipakkarki155 posted a video carrying two screenshots with visuals of GB Rai, TV journalist Rishi Dhamala and Rastriya Swatantra Party Chairman Rabi Lamichhane. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police have arrested GB Rai from Kathmandu. He is being presented later this evening. The dark deeds of Dhanaraj Gurung [Nepali Congress vice president] has been exposed.”
The video posted on December 12 has garnered 4270 likes, 68 users have shared it and 68 people have commented until the last count.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the veracity, Newschecker searched for the news of GB Rai, who has been absconding for over a year now. However, we couldn’t find a single report confirming the arrest of GB Rai. Rather, we found a news article, dated October 26, 2024, published on My Republic online regarding the Nepal government seeking cooperation from the Malaysian government to bring back GB Rai from Malaysia, where he is believed to be hiding.
We, then, reached out to Nepal Police Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) Spokesperson SP Hobindra Bogati, who told us that the report of GB Rai’s arrest is false.
Thus, our findings showed that GB Rai has not been arrested yet.
Conclusion
The viral claim saying GB Rai has been arrested from Kathmandu is false.
Result: False
Sources
My Republica, October 26, 2024
Kathmandu Post, January 28, 2024
Direct contact with CIB Spokesperson Hobindra Bogati
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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.
