Social media is rife with claims that creators of the recently released mini-series "IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack" changed the names of the hijackers who hijacked the Indian Airlines Flight 814 in December, 1999, to "Shankar" and "Bhola". Users shared this claim to suggest that the producers did this to hide the Muslim identities of the hijackers, and show them as Hindus.
BOOM found these claims to be false; according to statement by the Union Home Minister, dated January 06, 2000, "Shankar" and "Bhola" were actual code names used by the hijackers to address each other during the hijacking, along with other code names like Chief, Doctor and Burger. The series "IC 814" accurately depicts the hijackers with clear references to their Muslim identities, debunking false claims that their names were changed to hide their religion.
The mini series "IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack" was released on August 29, 2024 on Netflix, depicting the hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi, which was eventually flown to Kandahar, in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The show was adapted from the book Flight Into Fear by Devi Sharan, the captain of the hijacked flight, and Srinjoy Chowdhury. Following a flurry of tweets claiming that the show's creators deliberately tried to hide the religion of the hijackers, hashtags calling for the boycott of Netflix and Bollywood started trending on X.
The Viral Claim
An X user claimed, "Names of IC814 Hijackers changed to Shankar & Bhola by Anubhav Sinha."
Popular right-leaning users Rishi Bagree and The Jaipur Dialogues also shared the real names of the hijackers, and insinuated that the Muslim names were changed to Hindu-sounding "Bhola" and "Shankar" by the show's creators.
Click here, here and here to view archives of the above tweets.
The claim was also shared by BJP's IT Cell head Amit Malviya and popular right-leaning account True Indology, which can be viewed here and here.
We found the same claim going viral on Facebook as well, which can be viewed here, here and here.
Fact Check: Were The Names Changed?
BOOM did a series of relevant keyword search, to find official reports on the December 1999 hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight 814 to Kandahar.
We came across a statement from the Union Home Minister, dated January 6, 2000, published on the website of Ministry of External Affairs, which provided details on hijacking.
Evidence From Official Sources
According to the statement, the names Chief, Doctor, Burger, Bhola and Shankar where used by the hijackers to refer to each other, while their real names were Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Shakir, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, and Ibrahim Athar.
This suggests that the creators of the show did not deliberately change the names of the hijackers in the series, but depicted the hijacking as it happened by using the actual code names used by the hijackers.
This was further confirmed by writer, lyricist and journalist Neelesh Misra who wrote the book "173 Hours in Captivity" on the hijacking of the flight IC 814, while he was a journalist for the Associated Press.
Misra stated in a post on X that "Shankar" and "Bhola", along with "Burger, "Doctor", and "Chief" were indeed how the hijackers referred to each other, and "how the passengers referred to them."
Depiction of hijackers in the series
Furthermore, upon viewing the series BOOM observed that there were clear indications right from the first episode that the hijackers were Muslims. For example, one of the scenes shows a hijacker speaking to a person, who is seen with a skullcap and beard - indicating clearly that he is Muslim. This suggests that the viral claim around the show's creators trying to hide the Muslim identities of the hijackers is false.