Mohammed Zubair passes off Dr Sumaiya Shaikh, Alt News Science’s founding editor as a mere ‘contributor’: Thakur Family Foundation, alleged FCRA violations and more

In an ironic turn of events, alleged ‘fact-checker’ Mohammed Zubair of Islamo-leftist propaganda outlet Alt News has been caught lying about the association of Dr. Sumaiya Shaikh, a neuroscientist and “expert in violence, extremism & trauma”. On 27th September 2025, Mohammed Zubair, notorious for passing off Pakistan Zindabad slogans by his co-religionists as ‘Nasir Saab Zindabad’, shared a screenshot of journalist Aditya Raj Kaul’s July 2022 X post wherein the latter mentioned the allegations of Zubair and Alt News receiving foreign funding. The Islamist ‘fact-checker’ who dog-whistled his co-religionists against ex-BJP leader Nupur Sharma wrote, “Foreign funding se yaad aaya… They are yet to prove…” Foreign funding se yaad aaya… They are yet to prove… pic.twitter.com/Pyv9nSTWIm— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) September 27, 2025 However, Vijay Gajera, the founder of fact-checking portal, Only Fact, alleged that while Mohammed Zubair claims that the allegations of Alt News or people linked to it, receiving foreign funding are false, Dr Sumaiya Shaikh and Sharfaroz Satani received foreign grants to the tune of Rs 50 lakh from the US-based Thakur Family Foundation. In no time, ‘fact-checker’ Mohammed Zubair jumped in to offer misleading claims in his defence. Zubair responded to Vijay Gajera’s post with abuse, and claimed that Dr Sumaiya Shaikh and Sharfaroz Satani were “contributor”, not Alt News employees. “Abey Saste Desi Bhand, thoda aur research karle. They were contributor not Alt News employees,” Mohammed Zubair retorted. However, as per the author page of Dr Shaikh on Alt News’s website, she was not a mere contributor but the Founding-Editor for Alt News Science, from the year 2017 to 2021. “Alt News Science is no longer edited by Dr. Sumaiya Shaikh. From 2017 to 2021, Dr. Shaikh was the Founding Editor for Alt News Science. Her main role is as a neuroscientist researching violent extremism and psychiatry,” Shaikh’s Alt News author page reads. Meanwhile, Dr Sharfaroz Satani’s Alt News author page reads, “Dr Sharfaroz Satani is a science writer for Alt News Science and a drug safety physician. He advocates for evidence-based medicine, freethought, and social equality. He also writes satire, poetry and fiction.” Neither of them has written any article for Alt News since 2021, as per the information available of Alt News’s website. When called out for falsely claiming that Dr Sumaiya Shaikh was a contributor and not an employee at Alt News, the Islamo-leftist propaganda outlet’s co-founder, Mohammed Zubair, doubled down and said, “Read again. She was not employed by Alt News. Was a contributor.” Read again. She was not employed by Alt News. Was a contributor.— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) October 5, 2025 There is nothing to ‘read again’, the author page in question nowhere mentions the “C” word, Mohammed Zubair is trying to drum into everyone’s mind that somehow, they should ignore the evident facts, and believe his misleading claims. Source: X However, media reports, Alt News’s own author page of Dr Sumaiya Shaikh and her own old X posts confirm that her role at Alt News was not confined to being a ‘contributor’ but she was indeed the founder of Alt News Science segment. There are many social media posts wherein Alt News and Shaikh herself mentioned that she is associated with Alt News as its science editor. Source: X Back in August 2020, the India chapter of the United Nations also platformed Dr Sumaiya Shaikh, describing her as a “Neuroscientist and Founding Editor at Alt News Science who is using real science to unpack rumours and ‘miracle cures’ spreading on WhatsApp.” Dr Shaikh has also featured in a few podcasts back in 2020 to discuss about Alt News Science and why she founded it. Saaarrrr, she was just a contributor Saaarrr!She got paid ₹50 lakh from Big Pharma just to write 10 articles saarrrr!Why are you not believing that she was not an editor or a founder of Falt news science saarrrr? pic.twitter.com/GPGX9MOPEz— Vijay Patel (@vijaygajera) October 6, 2025 Unless some Madarsa logic is applied, it does not make sense that Dr Sumaiya Shaikh was the founding editor of Alt News Science but not an employee. Netizens are rightly calling out Zubair’s conflicting statements. Dr Sumaiya Shaikh and Sharfaroz Satani received funds from Thakur Family Foundation in 2020 based on their work at Alt News As per the records of past grants available on the Thakur Family Foundation’s website, Sharfaroz Satani received funds from the outfit in 2021 under the “Public Health” grant area, and the “Project Impact” was mentioned as Alt News. There is a pdf attached to Satani’s profile page on TFF’s website, which contains his claims regarding the alleged spread of COVID-era misinformation and how he, along with Dr Sumaiya Shaikh, ‘debunked’ these falsehoods. As per the documentation from Thakur Family Foundation, they made a grant to Dr Sumaiya Shaikh, s