Dheeshma Puzhakkal leads the editorial team at SouthCheck. She began her career in 2018 as a technical writer and moved into journalism in 2019 as a multimedia journalist with NewsMeter. She later joined India Today, where she rose to the position of Principal Correspondent in the fact-checking team. With extensive experience in digital verification, editorial strategy, and multilingual misinformation, she now oversees fact-checking operations at both SouthCheck and NewsMeter.

Yusha Rahman is a freelance contributor for SouthCheck. She began her career as a multimedia journalist at Deccan Herald before moving into fact-checking. With over four years’ experience, she is a certified fact-check trainer (Google News Initiative, India) and actively promotes media literacy.

Habeeb Rahman YP is a freelance contributor for SouthCheck, specialising in fact-checking in Malayalam. His work is informed by his doctoral research on media literacy and extensive experience in using fact-checking tools. He has also served as a trainer with FactShala, promoting critical thinking and verification skills across communities.

Ahamed Ali is a freelance contributor for SouthCheck. Based in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, he has over five years of journalism experience and holds a Master’s in Mass Communication and Journalism. He transitioned from general reporting to fact‑checking after working with Vanakkam India, ETV Bharat Tamil Nadu, and The Hindu Tamil Thisai.

Vinay Bhat is a freelance contributor for SouthCheck. With over eight years of experience in journalism, translation, and content editing across major Kannada digital media (TV9 Kannada, Vijaya Karnataka, News18 Kannada), he brings a strong regional perspective to his verification work.

Neelambaran A is a freelance contributor for SouthCheck, working as a health and environment reporter. He previously spent five years at Newsclick and taught Electronics and Communication Engineering before entering politics journalism and translation.