Misleading message circulating on WhatsApp related to donation for Army's modernisation: Govt
New Delhi, Apr 27 (PTI): 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 donation for modernisation of the Indian Army.
In a statement, the ministry debunked the message and urged people to "remain cautious and not fall prey to such fraudulent messages".
"There is a misleading message doing the rounds on WhatsApp pertaining to donation to a particular bank account for the modernisation of the Indian Army and for the soldiers injured or killed in action," the statement said.
The message being circulated erroneously quotes a "Cabinet decision" to this effect and invokes the name of actor Akshay Kumar as being the "prime mover" of the proposal, the ministry flagged.
"The account details in the said message are wrong, leading to online donations getting dishonoured," it said.
The ministry said the government has "initiated several welfare schemes for soldiers killed or disabled during active combat operations".
"In 2020, the government instituted 'Armed Forces Battle Casualty Welfare Fund' which is utilised for grant of immediate financial assistance to the families of soldiers/sailors/airmen who lay down their lives or get grievously injured in active military operations," it said.
The Indian Army, on behalf of the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare, Ministry of Defence maintains the accounts for the fund. Contribution can be made directly in the account of Armed Forces Battle Casualties Welfare Fund, it added.
The PIB Fact Check also alerted people about this "misleading" message with a post on X.
"A WhatsApp message is going around claiming that government has opened a bank account for the modernization of the Indian Army. #PIBFactCheck This claim is MISLEADING. The bank account mentioned in the message is NOT meant for modernization of Indian Army or for purchase of weapons," it posted on X.
"Armed Forces Battle Casualties Welfare Fund was created to provide immediate financial assistance to the families of soldiers who have sacrificed their lives or were injured during military operations," it added in its post and also shared a screenshot of the message with the word "misleading" stamped on it.
A WhatsApp message is going around claiming that government has opened a bank account for the modernization of the Indian Army.#PIBFactCheck
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) April 27, 2025
❌ This claim is MISLEADING
❌The bank account mentioned in the message is NOT meant for modernization of Indian Army or for purchase… pic.twitter.com/flm2vGe22G
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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.
