Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, editor of the propaganda website Weekly Blitz, claimed in several posts on X, formerly Twitter, yesterday that Ataur Rahman Bikrampuri and two of his associates had been eliminated by unidentified individuals.

Shoaib also claimed that Bikrampuri had abducted 212 Hindu women. He further alleged that Bikrampuri trained madrasa students as jihadists and maintained links with the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

But an investigation by The Dissent found that Bikrampuri had not been killed. Around midnight yesterday, Bikrampuri told The Dissent: “I was asleep. When I woke up, I saw reports of my death. Many people are calling me. I don’t know why such ridiculous news is being spread about me.”

Shoaib posted the claim about Bikrampuri’s death at 7:32 p.m. yesterday. Three and a half hours later, at 10:44 p.m., Bikrampuri wrote in a Facebook post that he was visiting a relative’s home. He also appeared in a live video from his personal account at 10 a.m. today.

How Did the False Claim Spread?

The false claim that Bikrampuri had been killed was first spread by Sree Iyer, an Indian-American writer. In a video posted on Aug. 6 on the Facebook page of PGurus.com, an India-based website he founded, Iyer said: “There are unidentified people operating in Bangladesh now. I have been telling you for a long time that 400 Hindu teenage girls have been abducted, and there is no information about where they are or where they are being held. The good news is that we have information that one person who abducted 212 girls … has reached his maker (died). He was training jihadists at a madrasa, and these jihadists were being trained to attack India.”

He further claimed: “Ataur Rahman Bikrampuri met his end at around 8:30 tonight (Aug. 6). We also know that two of his associates have been eliminated.”

Watch the video here:

Citing this video, Shoaib Choudhury raised the possibility of Bikrampuri’s death at noon yesterday, Aug. 8.

Then, in a second post at 7 p.m., he again spread the claim that Bikrampuri had died.

After 11 a.m. today, Shoaib shared a live video of Bikrampuri in another X post and said: “After seeing Bikrampuri live on Facebook, I tried to understand the matter. According to cyber experts, ‘It is possible to broadcast a previously recorded video as live on Facebook using third-party encoding software or scheduling tools.’

“Another source said, ‘To maintain transparency with viewers, when previously recorded content is broadcast, it should be clearly disclosed that it is pre-recorded.’

“Since @SreeIyer1 ji and his platform have a long-standing and unquestionable record of credibility, I believe they would not spread any unverified or false information. I am waiting for further information from PGurus regarding this incident.”

Claim That 212 Hindu Women Were Abducted Remains Unsubstantiated

In his post, Salah Shoaib alleged that Bikrampuri had abducted 212 Hindu women.

Iyer also claimed that 400 Hindu women had been [sentence incomplete in the original].

The Dissent’s investigation found no evidence supporting the claim.

Neither Salah Shoaib nor Sree Iyer provided any evidence that 212 Hindu women had been abducted.

Ataur Rahman Bikrampuri told The Dissent: “The claim being spread that I was involved in abductions is completely false.”

Shoaib Choudhury Has Spread False Information Before

The controversial writer Shoaib Choudhury has previously spread false claims about Bangladesh and Islamists on multiple occasions.

On Aug. 9, he shared an AI-generated video in a post on X, claiming that a large cache of weapons had been recovered from a madrasa in Noakhali.

But The Dissent’s investigation found that the video was generated using artificial intelligence.

On Aug. 1, Shoaib claimed in an X post, “A sophisticated improvised explosive device (IED) has been recovered in Dhaka.”

The Dissent’s investigation found that the claim was false. In fact, two separate items were found at two Metro Rail stations: a shopping bag containing a container of zarda, or chewing tobacco, and betel leaf at one station, and an empty sack at the other.

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury has also gained notoriety over the years for spreading false information favorable to the Awami League. Fact-checking organizations have debunked numerous false claims he circulated over the years. See here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

According to reports by fact-checking organizations, he shared a photograph taken with Indian Congress leader Rahul Gandhi while falsely identifying the people in it. He also recirculated an old video of a militant group recorded in 2023 and claimed that militants released from prison under Bangladesh’s interim government were openly calling for jihad.

In other instances, he shared a video of a student being abused at a madrasa in Pakistan and presented it as an incident from Bangladesh; circulated an old video while claiming that the Army’s 9th Infantry Division was advancing toward Dhaka; spread misleading information about Hindus killed during the July mass uprising; and shared a video of an idol immersion ceremony in India while claiming it showed Muslims attacking a Hindu temple. His claims in these and several other instances were later identified as false or misleading.