Subhechcha Ganguly 
BJP MP Tejasvi Surya has been booked for allegedly sharing false information regarding the suicide of a farmer from Haveri district. On November 7, Surya shared an article on the social media platform X, claiming that the farmer had taken his life after discovering his land had been taken over by the Waqf Board.
The Bengaluru South MP further insinuated that the Karnataka government, led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Minister Zameer Ahmed, was causing widespread problems in the state, in an apparent attempt to appease minority communities.
However, the claim was swiftly debunked by local authorities. Haveri district Superintendent of Police clarified that the news shared by Surya was false, stating that the farmer, Rudrappa Channappa Balikai, had died by suicide in January 2022 due to financial pressures from loan debts and crop loss, and not due to any land dispute with the Waqf Board. Following the police’s statement, Surya deleted the post, but not before police booked him and the editors of certain Kannada news portals for spreading fake news.
