FACT CHECK: Images of Bikram Majithia visiting golden temple are not recent

Users said it is the footage of his visit to Golden Temple on New Year's eve.

Bikram Singh was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act on December 20 and has been absconding since then

These viral posts claim to show the former minister "walking around freely" in Punjab.

The images were first shared by Youth Akali Dal on Facebook.

Following this, the media lapped it up. "Bikram Singh Majithia was seen bowing his head at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on the occasion of New Year," Aaj Tak reported.

Zee News said: "Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who is absconding after the case was registered in the drug smuggling case, appeared at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on the occasion of New Year.,"

According to a report by ANI, AAP leader Raghav Chadha accused the Punjab government of not arresting Majithia. He alleged that Majithia is "roaming openly in Punjab". Chadha claimed that Majithia offered prayers at Golden Temple recently.

FACT CHECK:

NewsMeter performed a keyword search on Facebook and found a report by PTC News dated January 1, 202. Here MLA Sukhbir Singh Badal and Bikram Singh Majithia can be seen paying their respects at the Golden Temple.

Comparison of PTC News visuals and the viral images show similarities. It indicated that the viral images are not from a recent event. (Notice the two men marked in the image below, both are spotted in the viral video and the PTC News video. Majithia is wearing the same attire too).

NewsMeter also found similar pictures on Facebook shared by Rozana Spokesman, a Punjabi daily, and by Shiromani Akali Dal Majithia in January 2021. The captions indicate that Majithia visited the Golden Temple on New Year's eve in 2021. Here too, Majithia is wearing the same attire as seen in viral posts.

Evidently, it is clear that the claim of Bikram Singh Majithia visiting the Golden Temple on this New Year's eve is false.