Misleading Information Is Going Viral About Netflix Series IC 814.
A social media post about IC 814, the Netflix web series about the Kandahar plane hijacking, is going viral. The post contains an image of the poster and a scene from the web series and the text written on the image reads, "IC-814 another propaganda by Bollywood. In reality plane was hijacked by Ibrahim Akhtar, Shahid Akhtar, Sunny Ahmed, Zahoor & Shakir. But in this web series, they're using Hindu names as terrorist. According to makers Bhola and Shankar hijacked the plane. They're continuously targeting Hindus & our God names". Sharing the image, the user wrote, "A social media post about the Netflix web series IC 814 is going viral. The post contains an image of the poster and a scene from the web series and the text written on the image reads, "IC-814 another propaganda by Bollywood. In reality plane was hijacked by Ibrahim Akhtar, Shahid Akhtar, Sunny Ahmed, Zahoor & Shakir. But in this web series, they're using Hindu names as terrorist. According to makers Bhola and Shankar hijacked the plane. They're continuously targeting Hindus & our God names".
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However, as we investigated, we came to know that the claim was misleading. Bhola and Shankar were the aliases of two of the five hijackers. Here's the fact check.
Fact Check
We started our investigation by conducting a relevant keyword search. As a result, we found a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs on 6 January 2000. According to the statement, the names of the hijackers were Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim and Shakir. To the passengers of the hijacked plane these hijackers came to be known respectively as (1) Chief, (2) Doctor, (3) Burger, (4) Bhola and (5) Shankar, the names by which the hijackers invariably addressed one another, The statement read.
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Moving forward, we found an interview with two of the survivors (Pooja Kataria and Rakesh) of the hijacked plane in a video report by India Today. Both of them said that the hijackers had aliases as Chief, Doctor, Burger, Bhola and Shankar and they addressed each other by those names.
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Below you can watch Devi Sharan, the pilot of the hijacked IC 814, sharing details.
The IC 814 Hijacking
Indian Airlines Flight 814, commonly known as IC 814, was an Indian Airlines Airbus A300 that was hijacked on 24 December 1999 by five members of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, A terrorist organisation. The passenger flight which was en route from Kathmandu to Delhi, was taken over shortly after it entered the Indian airspace at about 16:53 IST. The aircraft carried 190 occupants, which included 179 passengers and 11 crew members, including Captain Devi Sharan, first officer Rajinder Kumar, and flight engineer Anil Kumar Jaggia. The motive for the hijacking was to secure the release of various Pakistani terrorists held under terrorism charges for killing innocent Indian citizens. The hostage crisis ended on 31 December when the passengers and crew were released after the Indian government handed the three prisoners over to the Taliban.
Conclusion
From our investigation, we can say that the viral claim is misleading. The makers of the Netflix web series IC 814 did not use the Hindu names Bhola and Shankar for the hijackers to defame the Hindu community; rather, those were the aliases of two of the five hijackers. The five hijackers had aliases as Chief, Doctor, Burger, Bhola and Shankar, and they addressed each other by those names.