Media News

How Leftist Rag The Quint Amplified A Fake ‘Muslim Lynching’ To Distract From Pahalgam Hindu Massacre

April 30, 2025
The Commune

In the aftermath of the horrific Pahalgam terror attack where 26 Hindus were brutally murdered by Islamic terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, a disturbing pattern emerged across Indian media – the deliberate amplification of unverified stories portraying Muslims as victims of Hindu violence. The most egregious example came from The Quint, which published a completely fabricated story about a Muslim employee allegedly killed by Hindu colleagues in Bengaluru for refusing to chant Gayatri Mantra.

A LinkedIn post by one Ishan Saxena, a former employee of CashKaro, claimed that his Muslim friend had been assaulted and killed in Bengaluru by Hindu colleagues for refusing to comment on the Pahalgam incident and for allegedly not chanting the Gayatri Mantra.

The Viral Lie

In his dramatic account posted on 25 April 2025, Saxena described an unnamed Muslim friend supposedly employed at a prominent automobile company in Bengaluru. According to the post, this friend had been brutally assaulted by Hindu colleagues in the office parking lot after refusing to discuss the Pahalgam attack during lunch and declining to chant the Gayatri Mantra. 

Image Source: OpIndia

This post quickly amassed over 400 likes and was picked up without verification by The Quint, a media outlet that claimed to focus on exposing communal hate crimes.

Ishan Saxena’s fabricated claims were reposted word-for-word by an Islamic Instagram page called ‘The Ummah Insights,’ accompanied by emotionally charged graphics—and by the time of writing, the post had already amassed 1,428 likes.

Image Source: OpIndia

The Quint’s subheading sensationally read, “An auto company employee allegedly beaten up brutally.“ Journalist Aliza Noor, who authored the story, failed to verify even the most basic facts—no names were disclosed, no FIR or hospital details were cited, and most importantly, no credible police confirmation was provided.

Within a day, Saxena returned to LinkedIn to update that his ‘friend’ had succumbed to his injuries. That was enough to incite outrage, garner sympathy, and feed into a rapidly forming narrative of widespread ‘anti-Muslim’ retaliation.

Image Source: OpIndia

No Trace Of Victim, No Evidence Of Crime

Despite the sensationalism, not a single local or national media outlet in Karnataka reported the incident. No Kannada newspaper, television channel, or even a digital portal mentioned such an assault in Bengaluru. This glaring omission raised red flags.

OpIndia’s Assistant Editor Dibakar Dutta and several other internet users reached out to Bengaluru police officials, tagging senior officers across zones, asking for clarity. There was no confirmation—only silence. Hours later, Ishan Saxena deleted his LinkedIn post and deactivated his account.

Soon, it was revealed that Saxena had been terminated from CashKaro nearly two months before the incident. The company issued a public statement distancing itself from his claims: “We are aware of certain posts circulating online regarding statements made by Mr. Ishan Saxena (ex-CashKaro employee). We would like to clarify that Ishan Saxena was relieved of his duties at CashKaro on 27th February 2025, and the views expressed in their personal posts do not reflect the values, beliefs, or position of our company in any way. CashKaro remains committed to promoting a respectful, inclusive, and responsible environment—both within our organization and in the communities we serve.”

Meanwhile, The Quint quietly deleted the article without offering an apology, correction, or editorial note—a hallmark of accountability in journalism that it clearly bypassed. Journalist Aliza Noor also deleted her X and Instagram accounts shortly after being exposed for publishing the fake story.

When Asked, Saxena Admits: “I Copied It From Someone Else”

After sustained public pressure, Saxena contacted OpIndia and admitted the entire post was copied from another LinkedIn user—whose identity he claimed not to recall. On being asked about his comment that the ‘friend had died’, he said he saw another user write it and simply repeated the claim.

He also confirmed that Bengaluru police had interrogated him and instructed him to delete the false post and avoid sharing unverified, communally sensitive information in the future.

In a written statement shared with OpIndia, Saxena said, “I am Ishan and I recently made a LinkedIn post regarding a muslim man being attacked by his colleagues. This post was actually a copy of another LinkedIn post mentioning the incident and I had shared it in the haste of feeling bad about what all is happening in our country. I should have fact checked the post which I didn’t and I am hence issuing this apology statement for making the post regarding an incident which I thought to be true but did not fact check.”

At the time of writing, OpIndia report stated that it found no cached or archived post apart from Saxena’s that mentioned this alleged death. The story appears to have been fabricated entirely by Saxena or someone else, amplified uncritically by both social media influencers and legacy media like The Quint.

A Pattern Of Fake Narratives To Obscure Hindu Suffering

The timing of this fabrication wasn’t accidental. It came just days after one of the worst terror attacks in recent memory, where Hindus were religiously profiled, forced to reveal their identities, chant Islamic verses like the Kalma, and even strip to prove they weren’t circumcised—all before being executed. Yet instead of focusing on this heinous attack, social media was flooded with misleading content presenting Muslims as the primary victims.

This playbook has been seen before. From the widely debunked “semen-filled balloons during Holi” hoax to fabricated stories of temple vigilantes, a pattern has emerged where Hindu communities and festivals are targeted with false accusations, often spread by media houses that later refuse to issue apologies when proven wrong.

The Real Victims Ignored, Fake Ones Amplified

While the so-called ‘Bengaluru lynching’ never happened, another real incident did occur in Kolkata around the same time. A pregnant Muslim woman named S* alleged that she was subjected to vile communal remarks by her gynecologist, Dr. Champakali Sarkar, who reportedly told her, “People from your religion are killing people from my religion, you people are murderers.” “Your husband should be killed by Hindus so you can feel the pain.”

The Quint reported this case in the same article, offering it as evidence of communal tensions sparked by the Pahalgam incident. However, Dr. Sarkar refuted the allegations, stating that she had never discriminated against patients and was being bullied by the family. She added that she had apologized nonetheless and that her conversation had been misunderstood.

A police complaint was filed in this case and may take its due course, unlike the Bengaluru hoax which fell apart within 24 hours.

Dangerous Distractions From Real Terror

This is not just about fake news—it’s about manipulating public sentiment during a time of national trauma. At a moment when the country should have stood united in mourning the victims of the Pahalgam massacre and demanding justice, a fabricated story diverted attention and inflamed communal sentiments.

That The Quint and its journalist failed to conduct even elementary checks before running the story is a damning indictment of their editorial standards. Worse, their silence after being exposed shows a lack of integrity.

(With inputs from OpIndia)

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