COIMBATORE: A private college in Coimbatore has lodged a complaint with city police against a Kerala-based YouTube channel for allegedly airing fake news following the death of General Bipin Rawat. The channel posted a three-minute video showing students of a particular community studying in colleges in Nilgiris and Coimbatore and alleged they were celebrating the death of General Rawat. As the video went viral, police conducted an investigation in the college.
Sources said inquiries revealed that the video was taken on December 7, a day before the crash. “The video is from our students’ fresher’s day that was held by hostellers the day before the sad news,” the college management clarified. “Rumours are being spread by some online channels to portray our students in bad light and also to tarnish the college reputation . Upon hearing about the death of General Rawat and 12 others, we organised a homage service on December 9,” the college stated in a media release.Police sources confirmed that the YouTube channel had aired a video of the freshers’ day, and initiated an investigation against the channel with support from Kerala police.