Recently, claims have circulated on social media asserting that "Pinaki Bhattacharya's house is burning due to the fire set by agitated students and the public." Another version of the claim states, "Pinaki Bhattacharya's house is burning due to the fire set by Chhatra League." These claims have been widely shared on Facebook.

Fact-Check

An investigation by the Rumor Scanner team reveals that the claim that Pinaki Bhattacharya's house was set on fire by agitated students or the Chhatra League is false. Instead, the claim has been spread using a fake news link hosted on a free Blogspot domain, where the logo of Amar Desh was used misleadingly as a source in the comments section of the posts that propagated this misinformation. During the investigation, a link was found in the comments section of these posts. Upon visiting the link, a Blogspot-based free domain site was found hosting a so-called news report titled "Breaking News: Chhatra League Sets Fire to Dr. Pinaki Bhattacharya’s Ancestral Home," published on February 10.

Although the site used the Amar Desh logo, its URL contained a misspelling of the name, appearing as amardeesh247. The so-called news report alleges that "Bangladesh's prominent writer, intellectual, and political analyst Dr. Pinaki Bhattacharya’s ancestral home was set on fire by Chhatra League. Eyewitnesses claim that at around 9 PM, a group of masked youths entered the house and set it ablaze. … Local sources report that several youths arrived on motorcycles, attempted to break the gate, and later poured petrol in multiple spots before igniting the fire. Within moments, the flames spread rapidly, and although locals attempted to douse the fire with water, significant damage had already occurred. … Eyewitnesses allege that those setting the fire chanted 'Joy Bangla' slogans, a phrase commonly associated with Chhatra League events. However, local Chhatra League leaders denied these allegations, stating that this could be part of a conspiracy against them. Dr. Pinaki Bhattacharya, who is currently in exile in France, strongly condemned the incident. He posted on social media, stating, 'This is yet another example of fascist repression against the powerless.'"

The fabricated report also made additional claims regarding the incident. It included a link allegedly showing a video of the fire at Pinaki Bhattacharya’s house, but upon visiting the link, no such footage was found. The report also contained an image supposedly depicting the nameplate of Pinaki Bhattacharya’s house. However, fact-checking revealed that the image was digitally altered and did not belong to his actual residence. Rumor Scanner had previously published a fact-check exposing this manipulation. Notably, although the fabricated report accused Chhatra League of setting the fire, the same misleading link was later used to spread a separate claim that "agitated students and the public" were responsible.

A keyword search for relevant information did not yield any evidence of such an incident from mainstream media or credible sources. Furthermore, no report regarding the alleged incident was found on the official website of Amar Desh. While the fabricated news report claims that Pinaki Bhattacharya condemned the fire on social media, no such post or comment was found on his Facebook or X accounts.

Therefore, the claim that Pinaki Bhattacharya’s house was set on fire by either agitated students or the Chhatra League is false.

Original News Source: https://rumorscanner.com/fact-check/false-claim-pinaki-house-got-burned/138375