Claim
Photographs claiming to show senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with travel vlogger Jyoti Malhotra, who was recently arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan.
The archived version of the post can be seen here.
Fact
Newschecker first ran a reverse image search of both the viral photos, which did not lead us to any such images of the “spy” Youtuber with the leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha.
Image 1
A reverse image search on the first image led us to several reports from almost all the major media outlets, dating back to at least 2018, sharing a similar photo of Rae Bareli’s Congress-turned-BJP MLA Aditi Singh with Gandhi, crediting it to X. The reports, seen here, here, here, here, here and here, were primarily about Singh, daughter of Congress veteran Akhilesh Singh, dismissing the then rumours of an impending marriage with Gandhi.
A comparison with the original image (left) confirms that the viral photo (right) was edited by superimposing Malhotra’s face onto the image.
Also, we ran the viral photo past Fake Image Detector, which flagged the image as computer-generated or modified, while it did not detect any error in the original photo of Aditi Singh with Rahul Gandhi, further confirming that it was digitally altered.
Image 2
Newschecker ran a reverse image search on the second image, which led us to this Facebook post by Rahul Gandhi, dated September 18, 2022, sharing a photo from his Bharat Jodo Yatra, which spanned from September 7, 2022 to January 30, 2023. We also came across this media report, captioning the photo as “Rahul Gandhi hugging a woman supporter during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Alappuzha, Kerala, on September 18, 2022.”
A comparison with the original image (left) confirms that the viral photo (right) was edited by superimposing Malhotra’s face onto the image.
Similarly, we ran the viral photo past Fake Image Detector, which informed us that the image was either computer-generated or modified, while it did not detect any error in the original photo, further confirming that it was digitally altered.
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Sources
Deccan Herald report, October 3, 2019
BBC Hindi report, May 7, 2018
India Today report, May 7, 2018
JanSatta report, May 7, 2018
Facebook post, Rahul Gandhi, September 18, 2022
Fake Image Detector tool
