Sanjay Sathe, farmer from Maharashtra’s Nashik, sent Rs 1,064 to the PMO through money order

The controversies surrounding farmers refuse to die down. In a latest incident, several media reports claim that a farmer sent Rs 1,064 he earned from selling 750 kg of onion to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) as a mark of protest. The reports also claim that the PMO, instead of taking note of his plight, asked him to send the money through online transfer mode.

A report in Dainik Bhaskar claims that Sanjay Sathe, a farmer from Maharashtra's Nashik, sent Rs 1,064 to the PMO through money order. He took this step to highlight hardships the farmers are facing as prices of onion have crashed much below the production cost. Nashik is the biggest wholesale market of onion in the country.

Sathe had sent the money from the post office of Niphad in Nashik district on November 29.

The same story has also been reported by Business Standard, ScoopWhoop, and The Logical Indian. All of them have quoted Dainik Bhaskar report as their source.

India Today Fact Check found this claim to be false. Sathe confirmed to us that he did send the money to the PMO through money order, but the PMO never asked him to send the money through online mode. The money order was in fact returned to Sathe.

Receipt of the money order that Sathe had sent to PMO

"I had sent a money order to the PMO on November 29. On December 10, I received a call from the post office stating that my money order has been rejected and I should collect my money." He went to the post office and collected the money on December 10. The money order trail between Nashik and Delhi can be seen Speaking to India Today, Sathe said,He went to the post office and collected the money on December 10. The money order trail between Nashik and Delhi can be seen here

The money order trail between Nashik and Delhi

The whole incident was reported in detail by YouTube Channel Mumbai Tak along with the interview of Sathe on December 11. It is important to note that even in this interview, he did not mention anything about the PMO asking him to send money through online mode.

We contacted Anuj Khare, the editor of Dainik Bhaskar, in Bhopal regarding the source of information in the news report. He directed us to a local reporter, Nilesh Desai, who had originally filed the report in Marathi. Nilesh told us that he did not write about the PMO asking the farmer to send money online in his report and has no idea how it appeared in the Hindi copy.

So, the reports about the PMO asking the distraught farmer to send money online rather than helping him is far from truth.

INDIA TODAY FACT CHECK





Claim Rather than helping a distraught farmer, the Prime Minister’s Office asked him to send the protest money though online transfer mode. Conclusion The PMO refused to accept the money and never asked the farmer to send money though online transfer mode. JHOOTH BOLE KAUVA KAATE The number of crows determines the intensity of the lie. 1 Crow: Half True

2 Crows: Mostly lies

3 Crows: Absolutely false