A bizarre claim about Imran Khan’s sources of funding making rounds on social media platforms for two days has now made it to the mainstream media.

An Indian national Sumeet Jain has claimed that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi provided up to INRs2 billion to Imran Khan for kicking up a storm against the Pakistan Army.

Jain was speaking on a YouTube show hosted by Pakistan YouTuber Arzoo Kazmi, who says she is based in Islambad. Kazmi introduced him as an “international expert”.

Jain claimed the funding of between INR100 Crore and INR200 Crore allowed India to pacify the law and order situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir and to channel billions of rupees for development projects in the state after Pakistan went mum on Kashmir.

Sumeet Jain is a common name in India and the person who appeared on the YouTube shows does not seem to have a proper online profile. However, his claims about Khan are rooted in the context of PTI’s prohibited funding case and the allegations that the party received funds from at least some Indian nationals.

On the other hand, Imran Khan is one of the Pakistani leaders who raised the issue of Kashmir at the United Nations.

Jain also refers to the PTI’s prohibited funding case before Pakistani courts in his conversation with Kazmi.

Journalist Azaz Syed shared the clip on Twitter calling it “a real big blast”. He later deleted the tweet.

In the clip, Jain says that India’s Gujarati community is known for wisely using money and Modi came from that same community. “Someone asked me on a show, ‘how [Indian Occupied] Kashmir is seeing such development. In the past we didn’t have enough money. Now there is a lot of devleopment. How is it happening?’ I told them it is Modiji’s masterstroke. We used to spend between INRs10,00 Crore and INRs12,000 Crore on [security of] Kashmir every year. What Modiji did is that he got Imran Khan’s party funded with INRs100 Crore or INRs200 Crore. He [Khan] went mum [on Kashmir] and started speaking against the army. The INRs9,000 Crore we saved is being spent on development.”

Jain hastened to add that a funding case against the PTI was underway in Pakistan and the party faces allegations that a large number of Indians contributed to its funding. “And this they have never delcared. Because they were not allowed to receive election funds from a kafir (infidel) country or foreign country.”

So you are suggesting that Modji has funded Imran Khan’s party? asked Kazmi.

“I feel so – mujhy aesa lagta hy – otherwise what Imran Khan has done… “ said Jain, who suggested he was based in China.

He then said that he was not saying what he had just claimed had actually happened – mien nahi keh raha aesa hoa hay. “But there is a possiblity that Modiji has given money to Imran Khan to tranish the reputation of the army” given that Modi is a shrewd businessman, said Jain.

A shorter clip from Jain’s conversation was shared on Twitter by Kazmi with the caption “Plz listen to him carefully.” She also added two winking face emojis.

It was then shared and reshared by many other social media users.