Hoax email fools celebrities

Former IPL chief Lalit Modi fell for it. So did TV host Mandira Bedi, singer Shreya Ghoshal, filmmaker Tarun Mansukhani and actors Uday Chopra and Sameera Reddy.

All these people, and several others on Monday celebrated on Twitter the naming of Jana Gana Mana as the “world’s best national anthem” by the UNESCO. Only that it turned out to be a hoax.

The news, which started doing the rounds through a spam email, was tweeted by many celebs. Both Modi and Mansukhani posted, “Proud to be Indian.”

Modi soon rectified their mistake. “Told the unesco voting is a rumour. Nevertheless, I feel we have the best anthem,” he said. Bedi, too, echoed, “I love my national anthem. It does deserve to be top of any list & if there has been no such poll to put us there, maybe there should be!”

While Reddy tried to check from her Twitter followers whether the news was true, Ghoshal apologised to hers on learning the truth. “It seems the national anthem thing is a hoax. Apologies to all.”

First Published: May 18, 2010 18:56 IST