Fact Check: Image of healthcare workers burning bodies in front of Modi hoarding is fake
An image with the billboard of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a site where healthcare workers are burning the bodies...
By Kedar Nadella Published on 20 April 2021 6:30 AM GMT
Hyderabad: An image with the billboard of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a site where healthcare workers are burning the bodies of COVID-19 victims at a burial ground has gone viral on Twitter. The Hindi text on the billboard reads, "Now everyone will get their final rites. Once again Modi government."
The tweet has more than 800 likes and has been retweeted over 600 times in the last 24 hours. Many Twitter users have shared it with the hashtag #श्मशान_मंत्री_मोदी.
NewsMeter also found that some Twitter users have shared different versions of the photo.
Fact Check:
The image has been doctored by merging two images to create this one.
The part of the image with the healthcare workers in PPE suits is a separate image. We found the original image and verified it as the one used in the viral photo. The original image has the same three healthcare workers as in the morphed image.
Below is a comparison of the original photo (left) and the morphed photo that has become viral.
While the original photo of the burial ground has not been published by any news agency, it has been shared widely on Twitter in connection with people dying from COVID-19.
NewsMeter found a link on the NDTV website about Madhya Pradesh officials allegedly fudging official data on the number of COVID-19 deaths in Bhopal. The article includes a photo of the same burial ground as seen in the original image.
The hoarding which featered Modi's cutout is also morphed along with the text on it. The photo of the Prime Minister as seen in the morphed image seems to have been taken from a tweet from the BJP's handle.
Hence, the image showing healthcare workers burning bodies of COVID-19 victims beside a hoarding of Modi is FAKE.
