First Twitter, now WhatsApp kills Bollywood legend, Dilip Kumar

Dilip Kumar is dead. Again.

His third death in the last year, if you are keeping count.

This time, the legendary Indian film actor was killed off by WhatsApp, "because Twitter didn't do the job effectively enough on the last two occasions," tweeted one fan on the micro blogging site.

The 92-year-old veteran is very much alive though, despite the WhatsApp message doing the rounds stating: 'Big loss of the film industry. Bollywood superstar Dilip Kumar passes away at Lilawati Hospital of Mumbai'.

Muhammed Yusuf Khan, who goes by his screen name Dilip Kumar, is not new to the celebrity death hoax brigade, having lay victim to similar  news of his demise courtesy other social media platforms in the past.

When a similar story reached fever pitch last November, close friend and veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan took to social media to tweet: "Some baseless rumours being spread about Yusuf Saheb — Dilip Kumar, being ill... Saira-ji [Banu, his wife] just informed me he is perfectly fine."

This is not the first time a Bollywood celebrity has been victimised by a death hoax, with last month, actor Shakti Kapoor succumbing to the rumour mill.

Disturbed by the news, Kapoor issued a media statement at time saying: "It's been very sad that somebody puts it on WhatsApp about [an] accident and my death, which not only disturbs me but more to my relatives, friends and fans as well. With God’s blessings I am fine. This news is a total fake but has disturbed me and lots of people."

Meanwhile, other Bollywood celebrities killed off on social media include veteran singer Lata Mangeshkar and actor-singer Ayushmann Khurrana.

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