FAKE ALERT: Sadhvi Pragya did not say ‘Parrikar died because he allowed beef in Goa’

CLAIM
Many social media posts going viral are attributing a controversial statement to the BJP candidate from Bhopal, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur.
These posts claim that Sadhvi made disdainful remarks about late former Defence Minister and Goa CM Manohar Parrikar.
As per these posts, Sadhvi said that Parrikar died of cancer because he allowed consumption of beef in Goa.
“We will totally ban beef in Goa, North-East & South India, if BJP comes to power.Manohar Parrikar died of cancer because he allowed the consumption of beef in Goa: BJP Candidate Pragya Singh Thakur” reads the text on this viral Facebook post shared by News Today Channel.
The post further quotes Sadhvi as saying that Parrikar died because he disrespected gau mata (Mother cow), where as she was cured of cancer as she regularly consumed gau-mutra (cow urine).

Some Twitter users who shared the same remarks based it on a report published on notorious fake news website indiascoops.com.
As per this report dated April 26, 2019, Sadhvi made these remarks during an election campaign in Madhya Pradesh’s Sehore.


Journalist Swati Chaturvedi also quoted a tweet carrying this story and said “This terror accused needs help for her lunacy”. Her tweet now stands deleted.
TRUTH
The claim is false. There is no public record or any news report of Sadhvi ever making such a remark. Apart from serial fake news peddling site indiascoops.com, no other reliable media outlet has carried a story attributing such remarks to Sadhvi.
It further finds no mention in the new reports of those media houses that covered Sadhvi’s Sehore campaign.
In its own defense, Indiascoops.com later added (in their story) that “these comments were not made before the media, or at a public gathering but in front of a group of followers.”
However given the lack of credibility that Indiascoops.com enjoys, this comes as nothing but a lame excuse to avoid getting targeted for peddling fake news.