Govt debunks claims of Army commander 'removal' after Pahalgam attack as fake
New Delhi, Apr 30 (PTI): The government's Press Information Bureau (PIB) on Wednesday debunked claims made in posts by "several pro-Pakistan social media accounts" that the commander of Indian Army's Northern Command, Lt Gen MV Suchindra Kumar, has been 'removed' from his post after the Pahalgam attack.
The general officer attained superannuation on April 30 after completing an illustrious career of four decades in the Indian Army, which in a post on X expressed "deep gratitude for his exemplary leadership, utmost professionalism and unblemished service to the nation".
"Several pro-Pakistan social media accounts falsely claim that Northern Commander Lt Gen Suchindra Kumar has been removed from his post after the Pahalgam incident #PIBFactCheck The claims being made in these posts are #fake," PIB Fact Check wrote on X.
It posted a collage of such 'reports' having false claims on the microblogging platform.
There have been several misleading posts on social media amid heightened tension between New Delhi and Islamabad following the recent terror attack in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir. On April 22, terrorists shot dead 26 people, mostly tourists, at a meadow in Baisaran of south Kashmir's Pahalgam.
Lt Gen Kumar had assumed charge as the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of the Udhampur-based Northern Command of the Indian Army in February 2024.
He attained superannuation on April 30. Lt Gen Pratik Sharma will be the new general officer commanding-in-chief of the northern command and will assume office on Thursday.
Lt Gen Kumar had earlier served as the Vice Chief of the Army Staff.
In another post on X on Wednesday, PIB Fact Check flagged that an X handle is circulating a "fake" image on social media that "falsely claims that a formal Court of Inquiry has been ordered" against Lt Gen Kumar.
"An X handle (@commandeleven), operated by ISI proxies (blocked in India), is circulating an image on social media that falsely claims that a formal Court of Inquiry has been ordered against Lieutenant General MV Suchindra Kumar of the Northern Command, who was earlier taken into custody for the Pahalgam incident.
"#PIBFactCheck This image is fake No such post has ever been done by the official X handle of @HQ_IDS_India (Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff)," it wrote on the micro-blogging platform.
Earlier in the day, the Army replying to a post by its Northern Command on X on Wednesday said the general officer was "given a befitting farewell by the brave men and women of the Command".
"Lieutenant General MV Suchindra Kumar after completing an illustrious career of four decades in the Indian Army, today relinquished the Command of Indian Army's Northern Command.
"He was given a befitting farewell by the brave men and women of the Command. The Indian Army expresses deep gratitude for his exemplary leadership, utmost professionalism and unblemished service to the Nation," it said.
The Northern Command in its post wrote that Lt Gen Kumar laid a wreath to honour the supreme sacrifice of the bravehearts at Dhruva War Memorial, Udhampur on superannuation and relinquishing command of the Northern Command.
The PIB had on Monday flagged that some pro-Pakistan social media accounts are falsely claiming that 'confidential documents' related to the preparedness of the Indian Army have been "leaked".
In a post on X, PIB Fact Check dubbed these documents as "fake".
The Ministry of Defence on Sunday cautioned that a "misleading" message is doing the rounds on WhatsApp claiming that the government has opened a bank account seeking donations for the modernisation of the Indian Army.
In a statement, the ministry had debunked the message and urged people to "remain cautious and not fall prey to such fraudulent messages".
The PIB Fact Check had also alerted people about this "misleading" message with a post on X on Sunday.
An X handle (@commandeleven), operated by ISI proxies (blocked in India), is circulating an image on social media that falsely claims that a formal Court of Inquiry has been ordered against Lieutenant General MV Suchindra Kumar of the Northern Command, who was earlier taken into… pic.twitter.com/UJwYErT9Zi
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) April 30, 2025
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
