A photo of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat, union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nitin Gadkari, and Chief of the Army Staff Manoj Pande is being shared on social media to claim that the army chief met them at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur.
However, we found that the photo is fake. All these pictures have been taken from different events/meetings the three have had individually.
Mohan Bhagwat's image is from 2016 when he met Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aditya Thackeray in Nagpur.
Nitin Gadkari's photo was taken from when he had met Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Chief Raj Thackeray in Mumbai.
Manoj Pande's photo has been taken from a news article about his childhood friends sharing their memories after he became the army head.
CLAIM
The photo is being shared along with a claim that reads, "What is Army General Manoj Pandey doing here with Mohan Bhagwat? (sic)"
The text in the image in Hindi translates to, 'Mohan Bhagwat, General Manoj Pande and Nitin Gadkari met at RSS headquarters in Nagpur'.
An archive of the tweet can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
WHAT WE FOUND
We found that the picture has been created using different pictures of the trio from different events. Let's take a look at them one by one.
RSS CHIEF MOHAN BHAGWAT'S IMAGE
We conducted a reverse image search on the photo and a Google search led us to a 2016 article from India Today.
In the photo, the RSS chief can be seen along with Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aditya Thackeray.
The article was published on 5 December 2016 and it read that the Shiv Sena chief was in Maharashtra's Nagpur to attend Gadkari's daughter's wedding, when he dropped by at the RSS headquarters to meet Mohan Bhagwat.
Screengrab from an article published in India Today.
(Photo: Altered by The Quint)
Here's a side-by-side comparison of the two images. The door and the room seen on the background of Mohan Bhagwat from the 2016 image can also be seen in the viral image.
(Viral Image (L), Image from India Today (R).
(Photo: Altered by The Quint)
UNION MINISTER NITIN GADKARI'S IMAGE
Next, we isolated the image of Nitin Gadkari and conducted a reverse image search on it.
A Google reverse image search led us to a tweet from news agency ANI published on 4 April.
The caption read that the Gadkari had met MNS chief Raj Thackeray at his residence in Mumbai.
The photos were published on 4 April.
(Source: ANI/Screenshot)
The image of the BJP leader at the meeting with Raj Thackeray and family can be clearly seen being photoshopped and added to the viral image.
Viral Image (L), Image from ANI (R).
(Photo: Altered by The Quint)
CHIEF OF ARMY STAFF MANOJ PANDE'S IMAGE
We then cropped the image of Manoj Pande and conducted a reverse image search on it.
A Google reverse image along with keyword search led us to an article published by ETV Bharat Maharashtra.
The article was published on 19 April and read that a friend of Pande named Dilip Athle reminisced about their childhood memories, after Pande became the new Army chief.
The story was published on 19 April.
(Source: ETV Bharat Maharashtra/Screenshot)
Here's a side-by-side comparison of the two photos. The photo from the ETV Bharat article has been used in the viral image.
Viral Image (L), Image from ETV Bharat Maharashtra (R).
(Photo: Altered by The Quint)
Further, there are no reports on the Army chief meeting Bhagwat and Gadkari.
Clearly, an edited photo is being shared falsely claiming that the new chief of army staff had met Mohan Bhagwat and Nitin Gadkari in Nagpur.
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