A few weeks back, an emotional story of a journalist couple ‘adopting’ a baby rescued from a garbage dump in Nagaur, Rajasthan made rounds on social media evoking strong sentiment amongst the social media users. A journalist couple, Vinod Kapri and Sakshi Joshi, had warmed everyone’s hearts after they had announced that they would be adopting a baby girl found abandoned near a garbage mound in Rajasthan’s Nagaur area.
However, shocking tweets by journalist Abhishek Upadhyay suggests that controversial journalist Vinod Kapri used the tragedy of a newborn to promote himself and his movie ‘Pihu’ which was supposedly set to release on Netflix in the following days.
3-Vinod Kapri plants the fake rescue and adoption story of the newborn baby, found in a garbage dump in websites like CNN and Gulf News. He even shares them on his wall. Dainik Bhaskar reveals names of original savers, the ordinary villagers. Here screenshots. #Shameonhumanity pic.twitter.com/k4Or3hPyXZ
— abhishek upadhyay (@upadhyayabhii) June 29, 2019
In a series of tweets, Upadhyay claimed that Kapri had planted stories in Indian as well as international media houses that he had already adopted the newborn child. However, Nagaur administration has clarified that the formalities are yet to start and a committee will take a decision on who will be the adoptive parents of the child.
1- Stunning reality of Vinod Kapri’s adoption ‘game’ comes out. Nagore collector Dinesh Yadav tells all. No adoption procedure even initiated till date While kapri fakes her rescue story, takes credit for adoption and disappeares quitely. Listen to collector. #shameonhumanity pic.twitter.com/HNYtCM60lH
— abhishek upadhyay (@upadhyayabhii) June 29, 2019
The incident occurred when a group of villagers from Barnel village rescued a newborn baby from a garbage dump and admitted the newborn child to the nearest hospital at Nagaur, Rajasthan. However, contrary to this some media houses claimed that journalist himself had rescued the baby.
As soon as the news that a new-born baby was found abandoned in a garbage dump went viral on social media, Kapri tweeted that he wished to ‘adopt’ the child and requested social media users to provide all the necessary information regarding the incident. Soon, the journalist couple visited near the hospital to visit the rescued child and also met the Nagaur District Collector in order to inquire about the legal procedure to make the baby girl a part of their family.
Sakshi Joshi, the wife of Vinod Kapri, went on refer the newborn rescued child as their ‘daughter’ and even tweeted that their daughter was safe while posting some pictures where the couple can be seen posing with the rescued girl child.
Our daughter is safe now. Thank u all for helping us find her. https://t.co/26wRCqPxvn
— Sakshi Joshi (@sakshijoshii) June 14, 2019
Vinod Kapri had even claimed that the process to adopt the girlchild had already been initiated and even named the rescued child as ‘Pihu’, incidentally a name of Vinod Kapri’s movie by the same title, which had been a few days earlier on Netflix.
कल तक इस परी के नाम के आगे “ अज्ञात “ लिखा था। और आज इसके पास नाम है : “पीहू “. Till yesterday she was UNKNOWN in hospital records , but now she has a name : PIHU. #HappyFathersDay . @sakshijoshii pic.twitter.com/tZBx4gF682
— Vinod Kapri (@vinodkapri) June 16, 2019
However, according to Abhishek Upadhyay, no adoption procedure has been initiated till date contrary to Kapri’s claims that he had begun the process to adopt the child. According to the journalist, Vinod Kapri himself planted stories in newspapers claiming that he had himself rescued the baby and shared those news reports on his timeline despite the fact that he did not rescue the baby in the first place. As per Dainik Bhaskar reports, it was a group of villagers who had rescued the girlchild.
According to Abhishek Upadhyay, Kapri, however, did not stop sharing false stories that he had himself rescued the girl child but also posted some of those posts where it had mentioned that journalist couple had already adopted the girl child. However, the claims made by the reports shared by Kapri are untrue as the process of adoption is itself yet to be initiated, according to Upadhyay.
Further, journalist Abhishek Upadhyay alleges that Vinod Kapri had visited the baby in the hospital and got himself photographed and shared on his Twitter and Facebook after a few days his film ‘Pihu’ got released on Netflix. He further claims that Kapri had himself tried to trend it as “Pihu on Netflix”. However, OpIndia could not independently verify this claim.
5- Vinod Kapri stoops one more low. He visits the baby in hospital, ties “Pihu” tag on her feet, gets himself photographed and shares on his twitter/facebook.After few days his film Pihu is released on Netflix.Kapri tries to trend it as “Pihu on Netflix.” Game!#Shameonhumanity
— abhishek upadhyay (@upadhyayabhii) June 29, 2019
According to Upadhyay, the journalist couple not only shared false information on social media regarding the whole incident but also utilised the whole event to promote themselves and their movie ‘Pihu’, which was incidentally based on a story of a girl child who was left alone inside a high-rise building as her mother appears to have committed suicide.
He further added that adoption was a silent process and if Kapri was serious about the adoption he could have done it silently so that the baby doesn’t bear any shame in future. However, Upadhyay alleged that Kapri, in fact, did the opposite by faking the story of her rescue and adoption, took the limelight and disappeared.
Meanwhile, Kapri has shared a screenshot of his being registered for adoption proceedings. He has claimed that he registered to adopt the child on 18th June this year.
प्रिय शेफाली,कभी तो जीवन में इंसान बनो।ये झूठ की ज़िंदगी जी कर,फैला कर आप सब सो कैसे पाते हैं?आप भी माँ,बहन,बेटी होंगी।मत कीजिए ये सब-निवेदन है।कब तक अपनी आत्मा को मारेंगी?बच्ची से मिलने के दूसरे दिन ही 18जून को हम CARA में रजिस्टर हो गए।मेल देख लीजिए।एहसास हो तो माफ़ी माँगिए। pic.twitter.com/qKkjL8KuUs
— Vinod Kapri (@vinodkapri) June 30, 2019
However, by June 16, two days before he officially initiated the adoption procedure, he had started sharing news links on social media on how he has already adopted the child.
After the above tweets went viral, Kapri summarily denied the above allegations and has threatened legal action against those ‘spreading lies’. OpIndia reached out to Abhishek Upadhyay, the journalist who made these allegations on Kapri who continues to stand by his tweets. He said, “I am eagerly waiting for his defamation notice. This is his last recourse. Husband and wife are notorious for the same. They threaten those who oppose them in the same manner. I not only stand but fly with honour in this world with all my tweets.”