Fake video of Dawood’s ‘poisoned to death’ goes viral

Internet was abuzz with the news of the death of Dawood Ibrahim in Karachi. The report, circulated widely on various social media platforms, claimed that the fugitive gangster was rushed to hospital after being poisoned. Some users even posted screenshots of what appeared to be the account of Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwar ul Haq Kakar, which mentioned that Dawood had died. But the message turned out to be fake, with several fact-checkers clarifying that it was not the account of Kakar and there is no confirmation about Dawood. The viral message said, “The Messiah of humanity, dear to every Pakistani heart, our beloved His Excellency Dawood Ibrahim passed away due to poisoned by unknown. He breathed his last in a hospital in Karachi. May Allah grant him the highest position in Jannat. Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un.” But DFRAC, an independent fact-checking website, said in a post on X that the username in the viral screenshot doesn’t match the official account of Mr Kakar. It further said that the username in the screenshot has and extra k, and that Mr Kakar shared last post on his X account on December 16. Born in 1955, Dawood lived in Dongri slum area of Mumbai (them Bombay). He left India after the 1993 Mumbai blasts.