Bengaluru: For years, celebrities have been the centre of death hoaxes that have gone viral. No one can really know why such hoaxes are made or what the hoax ‘masterminds’ hope to achieve by such activities but, what we know for sure is that they can hurt the target in one way or the other.
One such personality who was recently the target of such a thoughtless “prank”, is renowned environmental activist Saalumarada Thimmakka.
Rumours of Thimmakka’s death started to spread on WhatsApp on Friday, May 25, when a picture of a woman’s ‘dead’ body in a hospital with the caption saying that the environmentalist was dead, was shared on the platform.
After having received several calls from Thimmakka’s fans inquiring about her health, her adopted son, Umesh Vanasiri responded to the rumours in a video where he said that “some miscreants” have spread fake news of his mother’s death. “I wonder what pleasure they get from doing this. Saalumarada Thimmakka is fit and fine,” he said, asking Thimmakka’s well-wishers not to panic or worry about the rumours.
On May 26, he accompanied the environmentalist to meet the Bengaluru City Police Commissioner T Suneel Kumar, and filed a complaint.
Saalumarada Thimmakka is most famously known for her afforestation efforts where she planted and grew around 400 banyan trees along a 4 km stretch between Hulikal and Kudur. Thimmakka, who is believed to be around the age of 100 years was also named one of the 100 influential and inspirational women by the BBC in the year 2016.
