Fact Check: IAF Chief visits pilot Shivangi Singh’s home to console family? No, here are the facts
A video claiming to show Air Chief Marshal AP Singh allegedly consoling the mother of missing Indian pilot Shivangi Singh is going viral on social media.
By M Ramesh Naik
Claim:The video shows Indian Air Force Chief AP Singh visiting the house of missing pilot Shivangi Singh and consoling her mother.
Fact:The claim is false. The video shows IAF Chief AP Singh visiting the family of late Sergeant Surendra Kumar in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan, who was martyred during Operation Sindoor.
Hyderabad: A video of Air Chief Marshal AP Singh is going viral on social media with the claim that he visited the home of Indian Air Force pilot and the first Indian woman to fly the French-made single-seat Rafale jet, Shivangi Singh, and consoled her grieving mother.
Pakistani social media users, who have been circulating fake claims of Shivangi Singh’s disappearance since Operation Sindoor, are amplifying the video with a false narrative.
One Pakistani user shared the video on X and wrote, “Breaking News. The Indian Air Chief met with the mother of missing Squadron Leader Shivangi Singh and assured her of efforts to locate the missing Rafale pilot Shivangi.” (Translated from Urdu) (Archive)
Another user shared the same video and claimed, “The Indian Air Chief met Shivangi’s mother and assured her of efforts to find the missing pilot Shivangi.” (Translated from Urdu) (Archive)
Several other accounts made similar claims, which can be seen here. (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The video has nothing to do with pilot Shivangi Singh.
We extracted keyframes from the viral video and performed a reverse image search.
This led us to a video report by NDTV on YouTube uploaded on August 14, which clarified that the video shows Air Chief Marshal AP Singh visiting the family of late Sergeant Surendra Kumar in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan. Sergeant Kumar lost his life in the line of duty during Operation Sindoor.
We also found an official post from the Indian Air Force’s verified X handle. It read: “Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, along with Mrs Sarita Singh, paid a visit to village Mehradasi in Jhunjhunu district, Rajasthan, hometown of late Sgt Surendra Kumar, who laid down his life in the line of duty during Op Sindoor. At his home, they met his mother, Mrs Nanu Devi, wife Mrs Seema and children Vritika & Daksh. It is worthwhile to mention that Jhunjhunu has a proud legacy of service to the nation, with 21,700 Ex-Servicemen hailing from the district and 3,552 serving Air Warriors in the Indian Air Force.”
This confirms that the viral video shows the IAF Chief meeting Sergeant Surendra Kumar’s family, not Shivangi Singh.
The viral claim that Indian Air Force Chief AP Singh visited the home of pilot Shivangi Singh is false. The video shows him paying tribute and meeting the family of late Sergeant Surendra Kumar in Rajasthan.
NewsMeter has previously debunked a claim about Shivangi Singh being captured by Pakistan forces.
