Taarak Mehta’s Bhide aka Mandar Chandwadkar to Divyanka Tripathi; TV celebs who became victims of death hoax

Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah fame Mandar Chandwadkar rightly said, “Rumours spread like fire on social media,” when he got into a messy situation after a false news of his death spread across. The actor, who was surely appalled to see such rumours doing the rounds, had to come out to give a clarification for himself. Many television actors have fallen prey to such death rumours previously too. Here’s a look at who all were they:

On May 18, Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah’s Atmaram Bhide aka actor Mandar Chandwadkar had to come live on his Instagram to announce that he is very much alive and healthy. This happened after false news of the actor passing away spread across when an online news website published an article about the same. It took no time for the false news to spread like a wildfire on social media. Following this, Mandar took to his Instagram handle to send out the word of truth by himself. The actor shared a video and put rumours to rest. “Namaste, How are you all? I hope work is good. I am also at work. But there's news that someone has forwarded, so I thought to come LIVE before people get worried. On social media, rumours spread faster than fire. I just wanted to confirm that I am shooting and enjoying myself. Whoever has spread the false news, I request him to stop it. May God bless him with 'sadbudhi'. Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah's artists are completely healthy and happy. They plan to do a lot of work in the future for many years and entertain people,” he said.

Yeh Hai Mohabbatein fame Divyanka Tripathi was declared dead by Twitterati and #RIPDivyankaTripathi trended on Twitter in no time. The actress back then took to the microblogging website and made a tweet to put an end to the rumours. Divyanka made her fans aware that she is very much alive and such rumour is just causing a state of panic for her family and friends. Divyanka had written, “Someone’s spreading news about me being in #RIPmode. Guys I’m very much alive. Please don’t trouble my friends and family with such rumours.”

Mukesh Khanna, who is still known for his show Shaktiman, lost his cool when rumours of his death spread on social media. These rumours took social media by a storm which came as a shock to the seasoned actor. The actor who was quite annoyed by the rumours told ETimes TV, “I am fed up, literally fed up. I don't know what to say or do to rumour mongers who are out on such futile exercises which cause only fear, chaos and anxiety. Almost all my friends and relatives have called by now and one fan said he was relieved as he just had a terrible thing in his life when his mother passed away 20 days ago.”

News about Shweta Tiwari’s death started doing the rounds on the internet when a Facebook page made a post about the same. It left everyone in a shock, including the actress’ then-husband Abhinav Kohli. Appalled by the rumours, he came out to clarify that Shweta is very much alive. He stated that she is doing very well and is spending time with her children.

Former actress Sana Khan also became a victim of death hoax. She was mistaken for being Pakistani actress Sana Khan who passed away in a car accident. The former Bigg Boss contestant was shocked with the rumours that spread all over the internet and came out to give her statement. “People have been dedicating ‘Rest in Peace’ messages for me on social media. I’ve been getting calls from everywhere. I had to clarify that it’s not me,” she had said then. Sana has now quit Bollywood.

Popularly known as ACP Pradyuman from the show C.I.D, actor Shivaji Satam also got caught in a death hoax. Rumours of the actor losing his life to a major heart attack spread across platforms. Later, it was learnt that it was his character who was supposed to die onscreen, which led to this news spread like wildfire. Upset with this news, Shivaji had told an entertainment portal, “I really do not know how it originated and why it happened. I guess none of us know about it. All I know is that one fine day, I started getting calls from people who know me. They wanted to know whether I was really unwell or OK. To tell you, there was a panic situation created.”

Farida Jalal, who is popularly known for playing ‘nani’ in Shararat found it extremely upsetting when rumours of death were rife. The veteran actress was shocked to see how such ‘baseless rumours’ spread. Speaking about it, back then she had expressed, “I am hale and hearty. I don’t know where these baseless rumours are coming from. Initially, I laughed, but for the last 30 mins my phone has been constantly ringing and everybody is asking the same question. It’s a bit irritating, I wonder why people spread such rumours.”