Fact Check: Man in the viral picture is not APJ Abdul Kalam's elder brother
An old man working in an umbrella repairing shop is viral on social media. Users claim that he is former president...
By Tejal Sinha Published on 13 July 2021 1:44 PM GMT
Hyderabad: An old man working in an umbrella repairing shop is viral on social media. Users claim that he is former president Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam's elder brother Mohammed Muthu Meera Lebbai Maraikayar.
The post claimed that he is 104-year-old and earns his bread and butter by repairing umbrellas.
Fact Check
The claim is a hoax.
On performing a keyword search, we found that this viral post has been doing rounds since 2015 after Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam passed away due to cardiac arrest while delivering a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management, Shillong.
We then found a 2015 post on the Facebook page `The BACK benchers'.
We also found a similar post that went viral in 2020 as well.
We then searched for the profession of the former president's elder brother. We did not find any reports that would prove the claim. His elder brother was the chairman and one of the trustees of APJ Abdul Kalam International Foundation.
We then compared both the images and found that there were no similarities.
We then searched for reports related to his age and found Abdul Kalam's elder brother passed away at the age of 104 on March 07, 2021, due to age-related causes. Many mainstream media had reported the news of his death.
It is therefore evident that the viral post is a hoax. The old man in the viral picture is not former president Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam's elder brother. His elder brother never worked at an umbrella repairing shop. He passed away this year.
