VIRAL
Fact Check: Did Rahul Gandhi pay tribute to Sushant Singh Rajput as ‘cricketer’?
The viral tweet has been created by tampering with the real tweet of Rahul Gandhi. In his original tweet, Rahul Gandhi called Sushant Singh Rajput not a cricketer, but only an actor.
The sudden demise of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput left his fans shocked. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to other actors and all their fans are mourning. Meanwhile, a screenshot of a tweet by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is going viral. It can be seen in this viral tweet that Rahul Gandhi has paid tribute to Sushant Singh Rajput, in which he has called Sushant not ‘actor’ but ‘cricketer’.
India Today’s Anti-Fake News War Room (AFWA) found that the viral tweet was created by tampering with Rahul Gandhi’s original tweet. In his original tweet, Rahul Gandhi called Sushant Singh Rajput not a cricketer, but only an actor.
Twitter user ‘ Self-sufficient INDIAN ‘ shared this fake screenshot and wrote, “O brother … in which world does it live .. ?? Do not say tomorrow that Rahul Gandhi is the ambassador of China .. !! And blessed are those smoothies who like and retweet the tweet .. !! ” The archive of his tweet can be seen here (http://archive.is/Q1Bb7).
The viral screenshot reads, “Sad to hear the news of Sushant Singh Rajput’s demise. A young and talented cricketer departed very quickly. My condolences to his family, friends and his fans all over the world. “
AFWA explores
To confirm this claim, we checked the Twitter account of Rahul Gandhi and found that in the real tweet of Rahul Gandhi, Sushant Singh Rajput has been called an actor, not a cricketer.
I am sorry to hear about the passing of #SushantSinghRajput. A young & talented actor, gone too soon. My condolences to his family, friends & fans across the world.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 14, 2020
We also searched for any archive version of the viral tweet that was tweeted by Rahul Gandhi’s Twitter handle, but no such archive was found. Apart from this, the date and time of the tweet going viral and the real tweet of Rahul Gandhi are same. Rahul Gandhi made this tweet on June 14, 2020 at 7.31 pm.
If Rahul Gandhi had written Sushant Singh Rajput a cricketer in his tweet and would have posted a new tweet by deleting that tweet, there would have been some time difference between the viral screenshot and the timing of the new tweet. But the timing of the viral tweet and the original tweet are the same, which means that the screenshot of Rahul’s original tweet has been tampered with.
This is not the first time Rahul Gandhi’s tweet has been tampered with and made viral. A screenshot of a tweet allegedly posted by Rahul Gandhi a few days ago went viral, stating, “Schools and colleges should reopen from June 1 on aud / even basis. On aud day teachers will come and Ewen Students will come on day. ” Several fact-checker websites found that this tweet was fake and Rahul Gandhi had not made any such tweet.
The Indian cricket fraternity also mourned the sad death of Sushant. Sushant had a brilliant performance in Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s blockbuster biopic – ‘MS Dhoni: The Untold Story’.
It is clear from the investigation that Rahul Gandhi while paying tribute to Sushant Singh Rajput did not call him a cricketer, but his tweet has been tampered with.