Fake Twitter Handles of Sushant Singh’s Sister and Father Emerge

The account has put out misleading posts demanding Justice for Sushant Singh Rajput.

(Photo: Arnica Kala/The Quint)

Multiple fake Twitter handles impersonating Sushant Singh Rajput’s family members are misleading the public even while the investigation into the late actor’s alleged death by suicide has intensified. Recently, an account in the name of Sushant’s elder sister Neetu Singh, which has amassed over 18,000 followers has cropped up on the social networking site.

The account has put out posts demanding Justice for Sushant and also evoking emotional response by pushing out old family pictures of the actor which happen to be in the public domain, particularly on the eve of Rakshabandhan.

One of the posts also alleges that the actor was “killed” and goes on to question Maharashtra government’s decision of not letting CBI take over the case.

An archived version of the account can be seen here.

But a cursory glance at the account raises certain red flags which make it evident that the account has been probably created for the purpose of gathering followers in huge numbers.

HOW DO WE KNOW THE ACCOUNT IS FAKE?

Well, to begin with, Sushant Singh Rajput’s name is misspelt in the bio of the Twitter account.

As we scrolled down we noticed a post about celebrating the festival of Rakhi, along with a picture.

We then conducted a reverse image search on the picture and were directed to a post by Sushant Singh’s other sister Shweta Singh Kirti. We found that this post was lifted off her account.

The account had posted another picture of Rakhi celebrations from last year, but when we checked the origin of the image, it turned out to be an old image from the sets of a show that Sushant was a part of.

The profile picture of the Twitter account is also in the public domain. It was uploaded by Sushant on his Facebook page in 2016.

HAS ANY FAMILY MEMBER CALLED OUT THE FAKE ACCOUNT?

Sushant’s sister Shweta called out the fake account and clarified that her sister is not on Twitter. She has further said that the account was earlier using her name and has now changed it to Neetu Singh’s name to mislead people.

FAKE ACCOUNTS RUN AMOK, ANOTHER ACCOUNT MADE IN FATHER’S NAME

But this isn’t it. There is another Twitter handle impersonating Sushant Singh’s father, KK Singh. The account has similar errors like misspelling Sushant’s name.

An archived version of the account can be found here.

This account, too, has put out speculative posts pertaining to Sushant’s death, pinning the blame on Rhea Chakraborty.

BUT DOES TWITTER TAKE ACTION AGAINST THESE ACCOUNTS?

In simple words, yes!

Twitter has a policy against impersonation which means if a person poses to be someone else (deceives others) then their account maybe suspended permanently. And as stated in its policy, Twitter doesn’t actively monitor users’ content and it reviews impersonation claims upon receipt. But there is a growing concern with respect to the implementation of these policies in light of the growing number of the impostor accounts.

We have reported on these accounts several times in the past and have also illustrated how not just users but even news organisations have fallen prey to this kind of misinformation which in turn misleads the public.

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