An old photo of Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh Sandhu standing in front of what looks like a mosque has gone viral amid the hunt for Singh by Punjab police.
The claim: Those sharing the image have claimed that Singh is not a Sikh and instead a "Pakistani agent". The claims also insinuate that Singh belonged to the Muslim community.
TV Panelist Dr Syed Rizwan Ahmed shared the image with a caption: "Neither a Sikh nor an Indian!"
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
Who is Amritpal Singh?
Singh is a 30-year-old Dubai-returned Sikh preacher and leader of the organisation Waris Punjab De from Punjab.
The organisation was formed by actor-activist Deep Sidhu before his death in February 2022.
Singh claims to draw inspiration from Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and has made calls for a separate Sikh homeland - Khalistan.
He is currently on the run, while several of his aides have been arrested by the Punjab police.
How did we find that out:
We conducted a reverse image search of the viral image with the keywords "Amritpal Singh", leading us to his LinkedIn profile.
A link to the profile can be found here.
(Source: LinkedIn/Screenshot)
The background in the image was different from the one in the viral image, which can be seen in this side-by-side comparison below.
A comparison of the viral image with the original image.
(Photo: Altered by The Quint)
What about the building in the background:
A reverse image search of the cropped part of the image led us to stock images of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi.
The photograph in the background of the viral image seems to be from the website of a Dubai-based consulting and travel agency.
Conclusion: An edited image of Sikh leader Amritpal Singh has gone viral to make a false claim about him.
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