Old Photo Shared as One of Indian Jet ‘Shot Down’ in Pakistan’s Muzaffarabad

The photo dates back to October 2014 and shows visuals of a fighter jet which crashed in Maharashtra.

A 11-year-old photo is being shared to falsely claim that it shows an Indian Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jet which was 'shot down' in Pakistan's Muzaffarabad.

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

A photo of a crashed aircraft is being shared on social media to claim that it shows in Indian fighter jet which was shot down in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan during the ongoing armed conflict between India and Pakistan.

The claim: The photo is being shared with text which says, "Sukhoi Su-30MKI Shot down in Muzaffarabad,Indian Pilot Captured Alive. (sic)"

An archived version of this post can be seen here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

But...?: The photo being shared with the unverified claim is nearly 11 years old and shows a jet which crashed near Pune, Maharashtra.

How do we know?: We carried out a reverse image search on the photo using Google's image search, which led us to the same photo on Times of India's website.

Its caption clearly stated that it showed a Sukhoi Su-30MKI which had crashed near the Pune-Ahmednagar highway in Maharashtra on 14 October 2014.

The jet had crashed in October 2014.

(Source: Times of India)

• The Times of India had also used this photo in another report published in November 2014.

• Additionally, the Press Information Bureau (PIB), too, called out this false claim on their official X handle.

Conclusion: A 2014 photo of a crashed fighter jet is being shared with a false claim that it shows an Indian aircraft which was 'shot down' in Pakistan's Muzaffarabad.

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