Several Indian media outlets and Sanatani propaganda pages recently claimed that members of an Indian medical delegation visiting Bangladesh were harassed in Dhaka. However, investigations have found the claim to be entirely false, originating from a “fake Facebook account”.
The controversy began with a Facebook account named “Dr Pooja Mukherjee”, which claimed to belong to a female member of the Indian medical delegation. In a post, the account alleged that she was made to feel “unwelcome” during her visit to Bangladesh, and that Bangladeshi doctors treated her as a burden. She even claimed that she was charged Tk300 for a bottle of water that costs Tk40.
The allegations quickly went viral on social media and were reported by some Indian news outlets. In a statement, the Press Wing condemned the post, stating, “This is entirely baseless, deliberately misleading propaganda.”
However, according to a report in The Indian Express, the Indian medical team consisted of only four individuals: two burn specialists, Ram Mohan (RML Hospital) and Piyush Thayal (Safdarjung Hospital), and two nurses, Puneet Sharma and Anita Verma (both from RML Hospital). None of them are named Pooja Mukherjee.
The Facebook account in question was created in April last year and became active after the Milestone tragedy. It attempted to build a credible profile by sharing posts featuring the flags of India and Bangladesh as well as images of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A reverse image search confirmed that the photos used in the profile and the viral post were fake. They were stolen from the Instagram accounts of two unrelated users, Payel Das and Pooja Das, and date back to 2022 and 2021.
According to the Press Wing, the account named Pooja Mukherjee is fake. The incident is part of a coordinated disinformation campaign aimed at creating misunderstanding and diplomatic tension between India and Bangladesh. No member of the Indian delegation made any such complaints.